Believing is always worth seeing
by White Hunter
Summary: "I always thought that I was a normal human girl that would always be an orphan for the rest of her life, but then my life changed when I start seeing spirits and that I'm soon taken by a group of spirits who call themselves the Guardians, along with Jack Frost, to become a Guardian myself. This adventure will be something I've never expected as I find out that I'm not ordinary."
1. Unexpected Meetings

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Person's profile:

 _For as long as I could remember, I've always been alone. I didn't have any real friends to call my own or a family to really love me. My parents had abandoned me at an orphanage when I was just a baby, they didn't seem to want me for some reason. Anyway, the people within the orphanage took good care of me as I grew up. I've made a few friends with the other kids at the orphanage, but they didn't stay for very long. The friends that I had made in the past were soon taken away by people who wanted to adopt them as their own child._

 _Over the years I kept on hoping that someone would come to adopt me, but nobody ever did. As time passed I began to fall into despair and lost all hope of ever having a family to love me. As the years went by I began to start seeing things that ordinary people aren't able to see. At first they were only shadows and blurs, but they soon started to become clearer to me as I grew older. I soon found out that the things that I've been seeing were actually spirits. At first I was curious about them, but I soon grew to fear the spirits as some of them would chase me or try to hurt me and the people that were close to me. I knew that I was becoming a danger to the people of the orphanage with me being the spirits' main target. So, one night, while everyone was asleep, I snuck out of the orphanage and ran away without looking back._

 _My name is Ivy and I've been running and hiding from spirits my whole life, while trying to find a place to call home and to find a family who would want me._

Chapter 1: unexpected meetings

It was a cold spring day in the town of Burgess as a few inches of snow lay on the ground. The wind blew gently through the bare branches of the trees, while a young girl who was in her teens walked through the park.

The girl was fourteen years old with long sandy brown hair that grew down to her shoulder blades, bright grey-blue eyes and light tanned skin.

The girl was wearing a tattered green sweater that was one size too big for her over top a white long sleeved t-shirt that was underneath, brown pants and black sneakers with white laces. The sleeves of the girl's sweater completely covered the young teen's hands as they kept them protected from the cold wind that blew through the town.

The girl wasn't the best looking for her face was smudged with dirt, her hair was slightly unkempt and she was scrawny.

The girl's name was Ivy, an orphan that ran away from the orphanage and had been living on the streets for three weeks. There was a reason why Ivy ran away from the orphanage and it was one that cannot be explained to anyone, whether they were adult or child. The reason Ivy ran away was because she had the ability to see spirits and she was constantly being targeted by them, while endangering peoples' lives in the process. Ivy always had to keep moving while avoiding as many spirits as she possibly could. This left Ivy without any human contact, because she was afraid of getting too close to people and having them getting hurt within the process.

Ivy was shy and timid around people she meets, but she is was also kind hearted, outgoing, stubborn and is not afraid to speak her mind when she feels that someone is misjudging her or someone else. Ivy doesn't like spirits and is not willing to trust them at first glance or willing to talk to them either.

Ivy continued to walk around the park in complete silence with a neutral look on her face for a while before the silence was quickly broken by the sound of laughter that filled the air within the park. Growing curious, Ivy followed the laughter to a wide open area of the park where she saw a small group of kids, who looked to be a couple years younger than Ivy, throwing snowballs at each other. Ivy smiled sadly to herself as she began to remember how she and a couple of other kids that she had befriended back at the orphanage had always played outside during the winter months. They would always engage in an all-out snowball fight. On a few occasions the snowball fights would always start with someone throwing snowball at someone else who had just turned their back. After that all of the kids within the orphanage, including Ivy, would join in the fun of throwing snowballs at each other in an all-out snowball fight.

"Those were some good times," muttered Ivy quietly to herself as she watched the kids from a safe distance away.

Ivy watched for about four minutes before she noticed a boy about seventeen years old running around among the kids, while throwing snowballs at them. The boy was wearing a dark blue hooded sweater with frost patterns on the shoulders and sleeves and dark brown trousers that were tattered at the bottom of the leggings. The teen was holding a wooden staff with the top part being in the shape of the letter 'G'.

Ivy knew that the seventeen year old teenager wasn't from around these parts and that he wasn't human. For starters he wasn't wearing any shoes or socks, he was completely barefooted; secondly the boy's hair was completely white like the color of freshly fallen snow with a ting of silver in it and third was how pale the boy's skin tone was.

Ivy instantly recognized who the boy was the moment she laid eyes on him. The seventeen year old boy was Jack Frost, a mischievous winter spirit that likes to play pranks on people and have fun in snowball fights. Many spirits didn't like Jack Frost and would always try to beat him to a pulp or completely flat out ignore him. Ivy had heard many rumors about the spirit and was a little sorry about how no one, adults or children, were able to see him.

Ivy continued to watch the kids and Jack Frost play for a bit before cringing when one of the kids accidently threw a snowball at the back of a lone girl's head. The girl slowly turned around to glare at the other kids in anger.

"Crud, I hit Cupcake," gasped another girl in terror.

"She hit Cupcake!" exclaimed a short blonde haired boy with glasses as he pointed an accusing finger at the girl who threw the snowball.

"You hit Cupcake?" whimpered one of the dark skinned twin boys in fear.

Ivy watched on with a worried look on her face as the boy, who held a red sled in his hands, coward under the shadow of the bigger girl who held the head of a snowman in her hands.

"This isn't going to end well," muttered Ivy as she got ready to run out and stop an actual fight that might get one of the children hurt.

Ivy quickly stopped in her tracks when another snowball hit Cupcake in the face. Ivy turned her eyes on Jack Frost who had been the one to throw the snowball at Cupcake's face, while he stood on top of his staff, perfectly balanced like a bird perched on a tree branch.

"What's he doing, doesn't he know that it will only make things worse?" voiced Ivy as she looked over at where the boy and the girl were.

What had happened next made Ivy blink in surprise as Cupcake suddenly burst out laughing. Ivy continued to watch in utter astonishment as Cupcake began to playfully chase the other kids with her carrying the snowman's head high above her own head. A smile slowly formed on Ivy's face again as she began to relax, but it quickly faded when Jack suddenly used his staff to create an icy patch that made all of the kids fall down to the ground. The boy with the sled also fell down, but instead of landing on the ground he landed stomach first on top of his sled. The sled began to race down the hill with its passenger coming along for the ride. The other kids shouted out for their friend to stop, but the boy had no way of stopping as he and his sled headed straight towards the streets. Ivy quickly began to follow after the boy on the sled as Jack took him on a wild ride through the streets of the boy's hometown.

Ivy was a fast runner so she was able to follow Jack and the boy through the streets of Burgess as they took a left turn that would lead them back towards the park. The chase soon came to an end when Jack created a small ramp that made the boy fly high up into the air over Jack's and the kids' heads before the boy crashed into a snowbank that had piled up near the statue of Burgess's founder. Ivy made sure to stay as far on the sidelines as possible, while she watched what is happening as the kids gathered round to see if the boy was alright. The boy, who Ivy found out, was called Jamie after over hearing the kids, slowly stood up and began to excitedly tell the kids about what had happened to him, but he was quickly cut off when a couch suddenly crashed into him. Ivy cringed along with the other kids when it happened, while hearing an older boy's voice saying 'Whoops'. Ivy looked up towards the statue of Burgess's founder and his family to where the voice came from and saw Jack Frost standing on the stone pedestal, while leaning against one of the metal statue figuring's.

Ivy shook her head with a disapproving frown on her face: _'I guess the rumors about that guy are true. He really is a trouble maker._ '

Ivy jumped when Jamie suddenly shouted out with glee: "Cool, a tooth!"

All the other kids became excited as they all gathered around Jamie as he showed off his baby tooth that he held in his right hand. Ivy rolled her eyes in amusement as the kids started to talk about the Tooth Fairy, but that amusement soon changed to a sad frown when she heard Jack's voice.

"Oh no, no!" shouted Jack in disbelief and frustration.

Ivy sadly gazed up at the winter spirit in pity. Even though Ivy wasn't too fond of spirits she did feel empathy for those who desperately wanted to be seen by mortals. Ivy let out a sigh before she began walking away from the group of kids that were heading back to their homes to get warm. Ivy heard the winter spirit shouting as he tried desperately to get the kids to notice him, but was having no such luck.

' _Just like me'_ thought Ivy sadly, ' _I had no such luck in finding a family that wants me. And even if I did I'll only be putting them in danger._ '

Ivy slowly wrapped her arms around herself as she began to feel the cold wind of winter blow against her, while a snowflake slowly drifted down from the sky. But the cold wind was nothing compared to the cold empty hole that had been growing inside Ivy's heart. The hope and dreams of ever finding a family had slowly began to die during Ivy's years of staying in the orphanage and the three weeks of running away from spirits. A few tears began to fall down the young girl's face as she began to look for a place to sleep for the night before getting ready for another day of running away from spirits again. What Ivy didn't know was that her life was about to change just by being at the right place at the right time that night.

Night fall

The sun had set and night was now hanging over the town of Burgess with the stars and moon glowing brightly overhead. Ivy had settled down for the night underneath a wooden staircase within the back alleyway next to a grocery store. Ivy had gathered up a few pieces of cardboard and set them down to create a make-shift bed and blanket, while using her arms as a pillow. Ivy lay on the cold hard concrete ground with only a piece of cardboard separating her from the small stones that would have poked the young teen while she slept. Sleep didn't come easily to Ivy. She was always on the alert at night in case any of the spirits that were always chasing her might appear to hurt her while she was sleeping. If they do then she would quickly make a bolt for it, while throwing something at the spirits to escape from them. It had been going on like that for three weeks and not once did Ivy ever get a goodnights rest.

Ivy let out a moan of discomfort as the cold wind of the night blew over her. The young teen shivered before pulling her cardboard blanket over top of her as she tried to keep herself warm throughout the long winter night.

"Don't think about the cold," Ivy spoke softly to herself. "Just keep thinking about staying awake and being alert to anything that might creep up on you."

With those words firmly imprinted within her head, Ivy stopped shaking while she kept her eyes open for danger. The night seem to move slowly around Ivy as she began to feel her eyelids growing heavy as sleep tried to claim her. Ivy fought hard to stay conscious, but it seemed that the need for sleep was wining and Ivy began to drift into the land of dreams. Her eyes were almost fully closed when she was suddenly startled awake by the sound of trashcans being knocked over. Ivy quickly sat up in alarm as panic began to grow within her body.

' _Oh no, not again!_ ' thought Ivy as she slowly crawled towards the pile of trash bags and boxes that would hide her from spirits that might be looking for her.

Ivy slowly poked her head up out of hiding as she looked over the pile of trash bags and boxes to see what kind of spirit was stalking her and the sight that met her eyes surprised her.

"Jack Frost?" whispered Ivy when she saw the winter spirit standing in the middle of the alley.

Ivy was confused, what the heck was Jack Frost doing here? For all the young girl knew, the winter spirit could have caught wind of the rumors that the spirits had been spreading about her and he decided to come looking for her.

Ivy watched as Jack slowly spun around in a small circle with his staff held up in front of him at the ready to fire off a shot of cold frost. Ivy quietly gulped as she started to become even more nervous than before.

' _Okay, just stay calm Ivy,_ ' thought the fourteen year old ' _It doesn't look like he noticed that you're here yet so just be quiet and-_ '

Ivy's thoughts were quickly cut off when a deep voice, with an Aussie accent, suddenly spoke up from the shadows within the alley, quite close to Ivy's hiding place.

"Hello mate."

Ivy let out a small squeak before quickly ducking down when Jack turned towards the owner of the voice. Ivy held her breath for a moment before she slowly poked her head up again to see Jack looking straight towards the entrance of the alley. It was quiet for a few seconds, but the silence was quickly broken when the Aussie voice spoke again.

"Been a long time, Blizzard of '68 I believe, Easter Sunday wasn't it?"

Ivy watched closely as the owner of the voice walked out from around the corner of the building and stood within the glow of a street light that hung from above. Ivy's mouth dropped open in shock, because standing before her was an anthropomorphic rabbit that looked to be 6 to 7 feet tall.

The rabbit had light greyish-blue and white fur with dark blue stripes or markings on his arms and back. On the rabbit's shoulders and forehead were three petal flower imprints. The rabbit's eyes were a bright green that glared straight at the winter spirit that stood before him. The rabbit was wearing a brown single-strap holster, two leather brown bracers with two orange stones set in each of them and two leather wrappings on his feet. The rabbit was holding a boomerang with his right paw/hand while the second boomerang hung in the holster behind his back.

Something about the rabbit seem familiar to Ivy as she looked at him before a memory from her childhood back in the orphanage came up. Ivy remember how some of the children would talk about the Easter Bunny and how they always became excited about the Easter egg hunts that they would sometimes participate in the coming spring. And if she remembered correctly, Ivy could have sworn that she had seen a pair of long grey rabbit ears hidden behind a bush near the orphanage back when she had been five years old when Easter came around that day. But the sighting of the grey ears had been brief for when she took a moment to blink, the ears were gone and in their place when she looked into the bush were three colored eggs.

' _Wait a minute,_ ' thought Ivy as realization dawned on her, ' _could this giant rabbit be the…_ '

"Bunny," spoke Jack in a carefree voice as he leaned up against his staff in a relaxed position. "You're not still mad about that, are ya?"

' _I know I would be if someone caused a blizzard on one of the most important holidays of the spring year,_ ' thought Ivy with a frown.

"Yes," growled the rabbit, now known as Bunny, as he raised the boomerang he held in his hand up and held it in a tight grip.

Ivy tensed as she quietly watched the two spirits from her hiding place. Was the rabbit really going to throw his boomerang at the winter spirit? Ivy secretly hoped not, because no matter how much she was afraid of spirits she didn't like to see anyone getting hurt. So it came as a surprise for Ivy when Bunny lowered his weapon and relaxed as he began to examine it.

"But this is about something else," said Bunny in a calmer voice.

Ivy frowned at what the rabbit had said and became suspicious: ' _What does he mean by that?'_

Ivy soon got her answer when Bunny spoke once again without looking up from examining his boomerang: "Fellas."

Ivy jumped a little in surprise when two yetis suddenly appeared from out of nowhere within the alley. One of them grabbed Jack by the back of his hoodie, while the other yeti held open a red sack. Bunny reattached his boomerang back onto his holster while he watched the scene before him with an indifferent look on his face.

"Hey!" shouted Jack as he struggled in the yeti's grip. "Put me down, what the-"

Jack's sentence was cut off as he was shoved into the sack before the second yeti that held the sack open, closed it shut.

Ivy watched in utter confusion before she quietly spoke to herself: "What on earth is going on here?"

"You're about to find that out for yourself, Sheila" answered an Aussie voice.

Before Ivy realized what was happening, she found herself being lifted up by the back of her sweater and was pulled out from her hiding place. Ivy kicked and struggled as Bunny held her up in midair with his left paw/hand at arms-length away from him.

"Let me go!" demanded Ivy as she glared at the rabbit that grabbed her.

Ivy's only response from the rabbit was him tucking her underneath his right arm with the young girl's arms being pinned at her sides. Ivy panted after a minute of struggling and became limp within Bunny's strong grip before watching one of the yetis pull out something from within its fur. The yeti rambled something in a language that Ivy didn't understand before it threw, whatever it was it held, down at the ground. The sound of breaking glass filled the air before a bright flash of light blinded Ivy for a brief moment. Once her vision cleared the young teen quickly saw an image of a large wooden building sitting on the side of a large snowcap mountain. Ivy began to tense when the image changed into a swirling white vortex. Was she going to be thrown into that vortex and be transported over the crevice of the mountain and fall to her death? The thought of what would happen to her made Ivy panic and she began to struggle again.

"Will ya calm down!" growled Bunny as he glared down at the teen that he held under his arm.

"No!" shouted Ivy as she continued to struggle, "I'm not going through the Vortex of Death!"

Bunny snorted while raising his right eyebrow up in amusement: "That's a name I never thought anybody would use."

Ivy stopped her struggling for a second to glare up at the humanoid rabbit: "Well there's a first time for everything you giant long eared fur-ball!"

Bunny glared right back down at Ivy for a second before turning his head back up when one of the yetis spoke to him in gibberish, while gesturing towards the vortex. Bunny felt the human girl tense under his arm and began to struggle again before he spoke to the yeti.

"Me?" asked Bunny in humor before letting out a chuckle, while scratching his chest with his free paw/hand, "Not on your Nelly. See ya back at the pole."

Ivy froze in between her struggles when she heard what the humanoid rabbit had just said.

"Pole, as in the North Pole?" asked Ivy to see if what she heard from the rabbit was correct.

"What do you think?" muttered Bunny before he thumped his right foot down on the ground twice.

Ivy stared at the ground in complete shock as a large rabbit hole appeared before her eyes. Ivy would have felt amazed by this if she wasn't so terrified and confused by what was going on around her right now. Before Ivy could speak a word, Bunny jumped down into the hole with her coming along for the trip.

"Whoa!" shouted Ivy as she and her kidnapper fell into the hole.

When they landed on solid ground again Ivy suddenly found herself being thrown onto Bunny's back and her hands quickly gripped onto the rabbit's furry shoulders, before he took off running on all four legs through a long winding tunnel. Ivy had no choice, but to hold on tight as the humanoid rabbit ran at top speed towards their destination. Ivy had her eyes tightly shut, while she buried her face in the thick fur of the rabbit moving beneath her as she prayed desperately to herself that she wouldn't fall off. The young teen could feel her heart pounding hard within her chest as fear gripped at her very soul. Ivy didn't know how long the rabbit had been running, but she soon felt him jumping upwards before crouching down as he came to a complete stop.

"You can let go now, kid," muttered Bunny impatiently after a few moments.

Ivy slowly opened her eyes and raised her head up to see Bunny looking over his shoulder to glance at her, while raising an eyebrow up with a look of annoyance on his face. Ivy quickly released her grip on Bunny's shoulders before falling down onto her butt as it made contact with the solid ground of stone and carpet.

"Ow," muttered Ivy as she rubbed her back side while she sat on the ground. "Note to self, always check to see how far the ground is before jumping off or down from something."

"Hopefully you'll remember that next time," said Bunny as he once again lifted Ivy up by the back of her sweater before placing her on her feet.

Ivy only glared up at the rabbit in front of her before sticking her tongue out at him.

"She has spirit, I'll give her that," a deep Russian voice chuckled from Ivy's right.

Ivy quickly turned towards the owner of the voice and saw an eight to nine foot tall man standing in front of her. The man was slightly bald on the top part of his head, while a white patch of hair grew short at the back. The man also had a long white beard and mustache hanging from his face, thick black eyebrows and large bright blue eyes. The man was wearing a bright red shirt with the sleeves rolled up over his elbows to show off two tattoos on the lower part of the arms. The tattoo on the man's right arm had a word that read 'Naughty', while on the left arm the words of the second tattoo read 'Nice'. The man was wearing baggy black pants that were held up by a plaid sash and on his feet were dark brown leather booths. On the man's right hand was a golden thumb ring that had designs etched onto its surface.

Ivy gulped and began to slowly take a step back, because she felt a little intimidated by the man that was standing in front of her. Ivy let out a surprise yelp when she suddenly heard the sound of ringing bells near her left foot before looking down to see what it was.

Standing near Ivy's left foot were two small humanoid creatures that were wearing oversized pointy red hats with a bell hanging from the top and a hole in the front to show the creatures' faces. The hat's had small slits on both sides where the two creatures' arms could hang out while their arms were clothed in long grey/blue sleeves. Around the two creatures' waists were black leather belts with sliver/grey buckles and underneath the two creatures' oversized hats' were grey/blue open toed leggings. Ivy instantly recognized the little creatures as elves when she saw their pointy ears poking out from the side holes of their hats.

The two elves stared up at Ivy with their wide brown eyes filled with curiosity. Ivy frowned in annoyance as she began to feel a little uncomfortable with the elves staring at her like she was some kind of unknown object to them. Ivy placed her hands on top of her hips as she gave the two elves a harsh glare that made them shrink away at the sight of her.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's not polite to stare?" questioned Ivy angrily.

The two elves responded by suddenly running face first into each other before they quickly ran off in two different directions. Ivy couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle as a smirk appeared on her face. Her smirk quickly disappeared when she suddenly heard a small chirp near her right ear before turning to see where it had come from. Ivy's eyes widen in shock and wonder when she came face to face with a small blue/green hummingbird flying in front of her face, but upon closer inspection she saw that it was no ordinary hummingbird.

The little hummingbird had human features that consisted with a human face with blue eyes with pink encircling around its eyelids, small hands; arms and legs. Its whole body, except its face and hands, were covered in feathers. Golden feathers encircled its neck and it had a long narrow hummingbird beak for a nose. Around the little creature's waist was a golden belt that glinted within the light of the room. Ivy slowly lifted her left hand and held out a finger for the little bird to rest on. The little hummingbird instantly alighted on Ivy's outstretched finger before it stopped flapping its wings. Ivy got a good look at the little creature's wings and saw that they were long and transparent bug wings that had a bit of purple/pink shinning on them.

"You're a fairy aren't you," said Ivy as a smile slowly appeared on her face.

The little hummingbird, now recognized as a fairy, nodded its head while letting out a proud chirp. Ivy felt her heart warm up in excitement, but her smile quickly faded into confusion when she began to hear a female voice talking rapidly in front of her. Ivy looked up and saw a five foot tall humanoid hummingbird fairy flying five feet off the ground, while giving out orders to five other little fairies that were hovering around her. Ivy could tell that the taller fairy was female because of her body structure.

Like the mini fairies, the taller fairy's body was covered in green feathers that were mixed with blue. A combination of blue and pink on her long tail feathers; gold feathers around her neck, wrists and ankles, while on her head was a crown of feathers that separated into shades of blue with four of the longer feathers on the fairy's forehead being gold. On each side of the adult fairy's head were five or six rows of small golden feathers that seem to act like earrings. The only parts that weren't covered in feathers were her human face, which had a normal human nose and hands that showed light tanned skin. The taller fairy's eyes were violet pink with long eyelashes and on her two eyelids was a shade of pink eye shadow.

"I'm guessing that's your leader and mother, right?" asked Ivy as she looked down at the mini fairy that sat on her finger.

The mini fairy nodded its head again before it started flapping its wings again and flew off Ivy's finger as it headed back to the taller fairy's side. Ivy let her hand drop to her side as she watched and listened to what the taller fairy was saying, but all that she could make out from the lead fairy's speed talk were the names of countries, towns and cities along with the coordinates and destinations. Ivy shook her head when she started to feel a headache coming on.

"It's best not to try and understand what Tooth is saying, kid," advised Bunny's voice.

Ivy looked behind her to seen Bunny leaning up against a wooden pillar with his arms crossed over his chest as he gazed at her with intense green eyes.

"'Tooth', that's the Queen Fairy's name?" questioned Ivy as she raised an eyebrow up in amusement.

"You got a problem with that?" Bunny shot back with a glare.

"No," replied Ivy as she quickly shakes her head, while holding her hands up in defense "I'm just-".

Ivy's sentence was quickly cut short when the same vortex that she saw in the alley suddenly appeared within the middle of the room. Ivy watched from a safe distance away as a familiar red sack landed on the carpet paved stone floor with the two yetis following right after it.

"That was fast," muttered Ivy as she watched two elves untie the string that held the top of the sack close.

"Quiet," spoke the man with the white beard "he's here."

Once the sack was untied the elves quickly ran over to where Ivy was standing and hid behind her legs. Ivy looked down at the elves in bemusement before turning her attention back towards the sack again. She watched as Jack slowly crawled out of the sack and looked around in confusion before the man that stood before him spoke.

"Hey, there he is, Jack Frost!" boomed the man in a cheerful voice.

Ivy glanced at the man for a moment before looking back at Jack to see what his reaction will be.

The frost spirit was silent for a moment before he finally spoke: "Wow…you gotta be kidding me."

Ivy let's out a snort: "That's the only response you can come up with after being thrown through a vortex?"

Jack quickly turned his gaze on Ivy, while frowning at her in confusion for a second before realization came across his face. He was about to say something when the two yetis that had captured him suddenly lifted the winter spirit off the ground.

"Hey, hey, put me down" said Jack before the yetis complied with the boy's request as they set him on his feet.

"I hope the yetis treated you well?" asked the man with a smile.

"Oh yeah," replied Jack sarcastically as he kicked his staff up from the ground with his foot and caught it expertly with his right hand. "I loved being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal."

"Oh, good, that was my idea," said the man with a chuckle.

Ivy rolled her eyes in annoyance: "Doesn't this giant Russian guy know sarcasm when he hears it?"

"Unfortunately no," answered Bunny while he examined the claws on his left paw/hand. "North tends to be overly enthusiastic so he really never picks up on the smallest of negativities that people are giving off."

Ivy looked at the rabbit in disbelief before glancing down at the two elves that stood near her feet. Ivy didn't need to ask as the two elves quickly nodded their heads, their bells jingling in the process, as they confirmed that Bunny was serious.

' _Great,_ ' thought Ivy, ' _this night just keeps getting better and better._ '

"Alright, I think now is time to get down to introductions!" boomed the man, now known a North, before he turned to look at Ivy. "Now, as you already know, my name is North, or as most people would call me, Santa Clause."

"Um…nice to meet you?" said Ivy in an unsure voice.

After having little contact with people and not so friendly contact with spirits, Ivy was a little apprehensive and uneasy around strangers.

North continued on with his introductions as he gestured over towards the winter spirit: "You probably already know Jack, yes?"

"Um…yeah," said Ivy as she scratched the back of her head in awkwardness, "but only through rumors."

"Huh, funny," spoke Jack with a humorous smile "I've heard rumors about you too. The young human girl named Ivy who has the gift to see spirits that no other mortal can."

' _Gift?_ ' thought Ivy darkly to herself as a frown appeared on her face, while she looked down at the ground in displeasure. ' _More like a curse. This gift has caused me nothing, but trouble._ '

"Good, at least you know each other." North continued on with his introduction as he gestured his right hand towards the humanoid rabbit. "You two know and met Bunny, obviously."

Bunny only hummed in acknowledgement at Jack and Ivy, while he continued to lean against the wooden pillar, while still examining his claws.

"Oh yeah, who could forget a giant long eared fur ball that kidnapped you from off the streets," muttered Ivy as she rolled her eyes up towards the celling of the room.

"Be glad I did you runt," spoke Bunny as he glanced at Ivy in annoyance.

Ivy just waved him off before going back to listening to North's talking as he introduced Jack and her to the rest of the spirits: "and the Tooth Fairy."

Ivy watched in amusement as Tooth quickly flew up to Jack with an excited smile on her face.

"Hello Jack," greeted Tooth cheerfully "I've heard a lot about you, and your teeth!"

"My, my what?" asked Jack in confusion.

"Huh?" voice Ivy.

"Open up!" exclaimed Tooth as she gently opened Jack's mouth to look inside it. "Are they really as white as they say they are, yes?"

Ivy quickly covered her mouth with her right hand as she held back from bursting out in laughter. The young teen's shoulders shook as muffled giggles were heard behind her hand. Ivy soon got control of herself again as she looked up when she heard Tooth gasp and saw the awed look upon the queen fairy's face.

"Oh, they really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow!" said Tooth in admiration.

One of the mini fairies squealed in a fan girl type of way as it gushed over the fact that Jack's teeth were pure white.

"Looks like you got yourself a fan club there Snowball," announced Ivy with a smirk.

Jack only rolled his eyes at Ivy, while returning a smirk of his own. One of the mini fairies, the one Ivy met earlier, fainted in midair and almost fell to the floor if Ivy hadn't dived forward and caught it.

"Ow," muttered Ivy as she laid on the floor for a second before leaning up onto her elbows and looked down at the mini fairy that she held in her cupped hands.

"You really are one of those high drama fan girls aren't you Fayette," said Ivy with a playful smirk on her face.

The mini fairy, who had recovered from her faint spell, sits up within Ivy's cupped hands and shrugged, while giving a sheepish grin in the process.

"She can be a real handful at times," spoke Tooth as Ivy looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"That I can imagine," said Ivy as she picked herself off the floor, while holding the mini fairy, now dubbed Fayette, in her left hand.

"You okay?" asked Jack with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," replied Ivy as she began to dust herself off after Fayette flew out of her hand and went back to hover beside Tooth.

"Now girls, pull yourselves together" spoke Tooth as she lightly scolded her mini fairies. "Let's not disgrace the uniform."

Ivy, who was now standing beside Jack, watched Tooth and her mini fairies fly back to where they had been hovering before Ivy glanced downwards when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Ivy blinked in surprise when she saw a small man round man floating a few inches off the ground.

The little man was wearing a golden night robe made of sand. He had dark golden hair spiked up as it stuck out in every direction and his face and hands were a lighter gold. Ivy couldn't tell what color the man's eyes were because they were closed as he wore a content smile on his face.

' _Man, how did I miss this little guy?_ ' thought Ivy.

"And Sandman," said North as he finished with the introductions before he lightly tapped the smaller man that floated beside him, "Sandy? Sandy! WAKE UP!"

At North's shout, Sandy quickly woke up and Ivy caught glimpse of little man's eyes. The eyes were the same dark golden color as Sandy's hair.

Ivy frowned for a moment before she straightened herself up as she began to get down to business with this odd group, who now stood before her.

"Um…" started Ivy hesitantly, "it's nice to meet all of you and everything, but-"

Ivy was suddenly interrupted by Jack who decided to finish what she was going to say: "Would somebody mind telling me what Spirit Seer and I are doing here?"

Ivy gave Jack an annoyed look before looking at the strange group of spirits again. Sandy quickly raised his hand as he volunteered to explain the situation to the two teens. Ivy watched curiously as pictures made of sand suddenly appeared above Sandy's head. Ivy only caught a good glimpse at some of the few pictures that had appeared over Sandy's head, but they soon became jumbled and disorganized as they started moving too fast for her to identify them. The only images that Ivy was able to make out in the beginning were a crescent moon; a snowflake; a young girl and a man.

"Um…that's not really helping, but thanks little man," spoke Jack as he turned away from the group of spirits and walked around the room, while freezing an elf that was carrying a plate of cookies with his staff. "I must have done something really bad to get you four together. Am I on the naughty list?"

"I wouldn't be surprise," said Ivy with a shrug of her shoulders "you do tend to go a little overboard with your pranks sometime."

Jack let out a snort before he turned to look at Ivy: "And you tend to get yourself into trouble with spirits that you run into once on in a while."

Ivy frowned before she turned gaze down to the floor: ' _It's not my fault that I brought unwanted attention to myself._ '

"But little Ivy is right," spoke North. "When it comes to the Naughty list, you hold record. But no matter, we over look, now we are wiping clean the slate."

At the words 'wiping clean the slate' Ivy looked at North as she watched him make his point by brushing his left hand across his right arm that had the 'Naughty' tattoo on it. Ivy had a sinking suspicion that something big was going on here and she was being dragged into it against her will.

"How come?" asked Jack.

"Ah, good question," muttered Bunny as he came to stand with the other three spirits.

"And I'm afraid to know the answer," voiced Ivy as she slowly start to move to away from group.

Ivy was quickly stopped by one of the yetis grabbing her by the back of her sweater and placing her back down onto her feet again beside Jack. Ivy glared at the yeti that had grabbed her before turning to look at the four spirits again when North started to speak again.

"How come?" echoed North in an excited voice "I'll tell you 'how come' because now… you two are Guardians!"

"Huh?!" exclaimed Ivy as her mouth dropped open in shocked confusion.

Yep, Ivy's life had suddenly gotten even weirder in just one night.

To be continued


	2. Arguments and Centers

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters, only the characters that I've created.

Chapter 2: Arguments and Centers

Ivy stared at the four spirits that had kidnapped her and Jack Frost for a moment before she quickly got her wits together by shaking her head to clear it. Ivy formed her hands into a 'T' as she began to speak out her thoughts to the four spirits.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, timeout and rewind!" exclaimed Ivy before she let her arms drop back down to her sides. "What do you mean by that? What in the world is a Guardian? And what does this have to do with me and Frostbite here?"

"Those are good questions," said North with a smile, "which will be answered after ceremony."

Ivy became even more confused and opened her mouth to say something, but was suddenly taken by surprise when loud trumpet music started playing without warning. Ivy quickly brought her hands up to cover her ears as she tried to mute out the loud noise before she watched in utter shock and astonishment as two yetis suddenly held up two torches above their heads. Ivy turned her eyes downwards as she watched a group of elves marching past another elf that was pounding on a large drum. Ivy was taken by surprised when two mini fairies placed a necklace made of flowers around her neck. A blush appeared on Ivy's cheeks before she looked at the two little fairies that had given her the necklace.

"T-thanks, I guess," stammered Ivy.

The two mini fairies chirped in response before flying back over to their queen. Ivy watched them fly away from her before quickly jumping back with a start when a yeti suddenly appeared as he twirled around a baton that had had fire lit on both ends. Ivy soon became confused and disoriented with all this attention and she soon started to feel over whelmed within the next few seconds as she stood within the middle of the commotion. Ivy held the sides of her head as she tightly shut her eyes, while feeling her body tense up as her instincts, which had developed over the months when she started seeing spirits, began to kick in as they screamed out at her to run and find someplace to hide.

' _Make it stop, make it stop!_ ' shouted Ivy within her head.

As if hearing her plead Jack, who had enough of the parade, raised his staff and slammed the end down on the ground. That action created a powerful gust of wind that blew back a couple of elves, while it also blew out the fire from the torches that the yetis have been holding throughout the ceremony. Ivy let out a sigh as she began to calm down when everything became quiet. Ivy looked up as she stared at the four spirits who were looking at Jack in shock and surprise. North was holding a large brown leather book in his hands and Ivy guessed that the book was a binding oath contract. Ivy let out another sigh before looking at Jack who glanced at her with a look of concern on his face. Ivy mouthed 'I'm okay,' as she gave him a reassuring smile. The winter spirit smiled back at her before frowning as he turned to look at the four spirits that stood in front of them.

"What makes you think that we want to be Guardians?" questioned Jack as he gestured to both Ivy and himself.

The four spirits stared at Jack and Ivy for a second before North let out a booming laugh that made Ivy jump back with a start. North laughed for about a minute before he spoke.

"Of course you two do," said North before he shouted "MUSIC!"

Ivy covered her ears again when the loud trumpet music started up once again: "ENOUGH!"

"No music!" shouted Jack angrily.

The elves who had been playing the trumpets instantly stopped before one of the elves threw his trumpet to the ground in annoyance. He soon pushed another elf out of the way as he stomped away in a huff. Ivy soon let her hands fall from her ears, while letting out another sigh before looking at the four spirits in frustration.

"Okay, listen, you've guys have made a mistake here," spoke Ivy in a calm voice as she took off the flower necklace and placed it on a nearby table. "I'm just a normal human kid that doesn't want to get involved with spirits like you and I have nothing special on me that could help you, other than my ability to see you guys."

"And this is all very flattering, but you don't want me," stepped in Jack as he hopped onto the same table that Ivy has placed her flower necklace on. "You're all hard work and deadlines, while I'm snowballs and fun times," Jack than sat down on the table top as he leaned against his staff. "Ivy and I aren't Guardians."

"Yeah," spoke Bunny with a chuckle as he nudged North's arm, "that's exactly what I said."

"Then that's something all three of us can agree on," said Ivy as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Jack, Ivy," spoke Tooth as she flew up to the two teens, "I don't think you two understand what it is we do."

"Well I know that I don't understand," grumbled Ivy as she walked away from where she was standing. "I mean, what the heck is a Guardian that you guys keep going on about? Is it like a protector or something?"

"You could say that Sheila," responded Bunny as he walked up to Ivy when she stopped to look at him, "but we're Guardians who protect kids instead of adults."

"Kids?" echoed Ivy with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right Ivy," spoke Tooth as she flew over to the young teen before flying towards a giant globe that was rotating slowly in the middle of the building.

Ivy was amazed by the sheer size of the globe, but soon became curious when she saw golden/yellow dots glowing on each of the continents imprinted on the globe.

"What are those lights about?" asked Ivy.

"Those lights that you're seeing Ivy represents a child," replied Tooth with a smile.

"A child who believes," added North as he walks up to a control panel that Ivy didn't notice before.

"Believe," muttered Ivy, "like believing in you guys?"

"Yes," replied North with a nod, "and good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them."

"Whoa," voiced Ivy quietly to herself.

Suddenly a muttering sound of someone's mouth being forced open caught Ivy's attention as she turned to see Tooth looking at Jack's teeth once again.

' _Oh brother,_ ' thought Ivy as she rolled her eyes, ' _does that woman have a teeth obsession going on or what._ '

"Tooth, fingers out of mouth," scolded North as he turned towards Jack and Tooth.

"Oh, sorry," said Tooth as she quickly pulled her fingers out of Jack's mouth. "They're just so beautiful, and speaking of teeth."

Before Ivy could react, Tooth quickly flew over to her and she suddenly found her mouth being gently pried open as the Queen Fairy began to look at her teeth. Ivy heard Jack snickering as she sent a glare at the winter spirit before pulling back after Tooth let go of her mouth, while the fairy let out an excited gasp.

"Your teeth are beautiful Ivy," cooed Tooth, "not as white as Jack's, but they're healthy none the less. Although you're K9's look a lot sharper than Jack's or anyone else's K9's that I've collected over the years."

"I guess I'm one of the acceptations," muttered Ivy with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, no more wishy-washy," spoke North as he got down to business, "Pitch is out there doing who knows what."

"Uh…who?" asked Ivy as she looked at North in confusion.

"Pitch Black," replied Tooth as she answered Ivy's question.

"You mean the Boogieman?" questioned Jack with a smirk.

"Yes," answered North as he gestured towards the globe and its lights. "When Pitch threatens us, he threatens them as well!"

"All the more reason to pick someone more qualified," stated Jack to the four Guardians.

"Not to mention someone who is older for the job," added Ivy as she walked over to the winter spirit to take his side within the argument.

"Picked?" parroted North "you two think we'd picked? No, you two were chosen like we all were chosen, by Man in Moon."

Ivy and Jack looked at the Guardians who were standing in a line in front of them before they both spoke in disbelief: "What?"

The Guardians held a seriousness that told Ivy that they weren't joking around. Ivy had heard about the Man in the Moon from listening to spirits who would talk about him once in a while. They said that the Man in the Moon was some higher being who created or chooses a new spirit to walk among the earth and the spirits hold a deep respect for him.

"I'm sorry, but could you run that by us again," said Ivy in a flat voice.

"Last night Ivy, the Man in the Moon chose you and Jack," explained Tooth with a smile.

"Maybe," muttered Bunny as he glanced at Tooth for a second before looking at the two teens again.

"That's a big 'maybe' Long Ears," said Ivy with a raised eyebrow.

"The Man in the Moon," voiced Jack as he turned his gaze up towards the sky light where he saw the full moon hanging high within the artic sky. "He talks to you?"

"You see, you cannot say 'No'" spoke North as he explained to Ivy and Jack, "it is destiny."

Ivy glanced up towards the moon in disbelief before glancing back at the four Guardians: "You've got be kidding me."

"We don't kid when it comes to who Manny chooses as a new Guardian," said North with a frown.

"Well I think the Man who lives on the Moon made a mistake," said Ivy as she continued her argument of denial. "I'm a young fourteen year old teenage mortal human that has no skills what-so-ever. So if the one who is the head-honcho around here talks to you again, tell him that he has chosen the wrong mortal for the job."

The four Guardians looked at Ivy in astonishment and were completely lost for words. This human girl had the guts to talk back to them, while showing such boldness in saying that the Moon had made a mistake. Bunny was the first one to break the silence as he glared at Ivy in annoyance.

"You'd better watch that tongue of yours Shelia," warned Bunny. "You're insulting the one who gave us legendary beings a purpose on this planet."

Ivy rolled her eyes while shaking her head: ' _Who does this guy think he is, my dad?_ '

That end thought suddenly sent a twinge of sadness through Ivy's body. The young teen let out a sigh as she let her eyes fall to the ground for a second before turning her gaze up again when she suddenly heard Jack speaking up beside her.

"Why wouldn't he tell me himself?" voiced the young winter spirit as he glared up at the moon.

"Jack?" asked Ivy as she looked up at winter teen in concern.

"After 300 years this is his answer?" questioned Jack as his voice grew in volume. "To spend eternity like you guys cooped up in some hideout thinking of, of new ways to bribe kids? Oh no, that is not for me!"

Ivy quickly nudged Jack in the side with her left elbow. The winter spirit glanced down at Ivy for a second before realizing what he just said, after the young girl gestured towards the four Guardians, and he quickly glanced back at the Big Four.

"No offence," added Jack before he turned to leave only to be stopped by Bunny's voice.

"How, how, how is that not offensive!?" exclaimed the rabbit as he walked forward before he turned to his fellow teammates as he is relieved about this turn of events. "You know what I think? I think we just dodged a bullet with these two."

"Oh really, how's that?" questioned Ivy as she walked forward with a challenging look imprinted within her eyes.

"You're asking me that question?" growled Bunny as he hopped forward while crouching down to a lower height. "Well here's a question I need to ask you and Frostbite. I mean, what does this clown know about bringing joy to children anyway? And what exactly do you know about brining joy to children either since you don't really hang out with them?"

Ivy frown in thought as she watched Bunny raise his large back foot up and began to scratch the side of his neck with it like a normal rabbit would, while thinking about the question that he had asked her. What did she know about bringing joy to children, while she was still a kid herself? Ivy was about to answer Bunny when Jack suddenly spoke up as he turned around to face the group again.

"Uh…did you ever hear of a 'snow day'?" said Jack with a smirk. "I know it's no hard-boiled egg, but kids like what I do."

"But none of them believe in you, do they?" countered Bunny as he stood back up to his full height again. "You see, you're invisible mate. It's like you don't even exist."

Ivy began to sense a thick tension within the air as she looked back and forth at the two rival spirits that she was caught between.

' _This is not going to end well,_ ' thought Ivy.

"Bunny, enough!" scolded Tooth.

"No," said Jack as he held a finger up before gesturing with his free hand towards Bunny. "The kangaroo's right."

Ivy face palmed as she shook her head at what the winter spirit had said: ' _Does this guy have a death wish or something?_ '

"T-the what?" stuttered Bunny before he scoffed as a glare came over his face. "What did you call me? I'm not a kangaroo, mate!"

Ivy quickly stepped out of the way as Bunny stomped towards the winter spirit with an enraged look within his eyes. Ivy heard a chirp beside her right shoulder and she quickly turned her head towards the sound and saw Fayette fluttering close beside her. Fayette shared a worried look with Ivy before the two of them looked back at Bunny and Jack. The winter spirit walked up towards the rabbit with a casual look upon his features as the two stopped about one foot away from each other.

"Oh, and this whole time I thought you were," said Jack as he continued to annoy Bunny. "Well if you're not a kangaroo, what are you?"

"I'm a bunny," growled the rabbit as he leaned towards Jack's face and glared straight into the younger spirit's blue eyes. "The Easter _Bunny_ , people believe in _me!_ "

Ivy growled when she heard that last sentence before she marched forward and punched the humanoid rabbit hard on his lower left arm. Bunny flinched when he felt the hard hit before he glared down at the mortal girl that stood before him.

"Don't get all high and mighty Long Ears!" exclaimed Ivy fiercely as she glared up at the rabbit. "People, or in better words children, may believe in you now, but did they believe in you when you first started this job of being a Guardian?"

Bunny only growled as he glared down at Ivy in anger and annoyance. This mortal teenager had a lot of nerve in back talking him. Ivy glared right back at Bunny with her eyes completely locked onto the humanoid rabbit's own intense gaze as the two of them refused to back down from each other. They continued to glare at each other's eyes for what seemed like hours while neither of them turned away from their intense staring contest. Bunny's gaze slowly changed from a glare to a thoughtful frown as he continued to look into Ivy's grey blue eyes. He soon spoke in a voice so soft that only Ivy could hear it and what she heard from him made her falter in confusion.

"You have the same fire in your eyes like the bloke I've meet many years ago," voice Bunny with a frown.

Ivy blinked as she stared at the rabbit in befuddlement and was about to question him, but was cut off when North suddenly called out her and Jack's names.

"Jack, Ivy, walk with me."

Ivy turned to look at North for a second before turning back to glare at Bunny again.

"We'll finish this later," said Ivy as she pointed a finger at the rabbit before she quickly followed after North and Jack.

As Ivy followed them she didn't notice that Bunny was staring after her with a distant look on his face after he heard what Ivy had said to him. Tooth noticed this and quickly flew over to Bunny's side.

"Bunny, what's wrong?" asked Tooth as she placed her left hand on the rabbit's right shoulder.

"Nothing," replied Bunny as he glanced at Tooth for a second before looking back at Ivy who was walking behind North with Jack strolling along beside her. "It's just that…that girl reminded me of someone that we once knew a long time ago."

"You mean the one that we befriended when he was still young and who you saw as a little brother?" guessed Tooth.

Bunny nodded his head with a sad frown on his face. Tooth patted his shoulder to comfort him before she noticed that one of her mini fairies is missing.

"Where's Fayette?" asked Tooth her mini fairies.

One of the mini fairies chirped as she answered her queen's question. When Tooth heard what the mini fairy had told her she couldn't help, but let a smile appear on her face while letting out a chuckle.

"Honestly, that girl is too adventures for her own good, especially when it comes to making new friends," said Tooth.

With Ivy and Jack

What the mini fairy had told Tooth about Fayette going missing was that she had followed after Ivy, Jack and North. Fayette quietly perched herself on Ivy's shoulder without the young human girl noticing her for a few seconds, before the little fairy let out a small sneeze when a strand of Ivy's hair tickled her nose/beak. Ivy was a little startled by the sound and quickly turned her head to look at her right shoulder to see Fayette sitting there. Ivy was surprised to find the mini fairy that she had named sitting on her shoulder before composing herself. Ivy lifted a finger up to her lips and signaled for Fayette to be quiet before the fourteen year old girl followed North and Jack onto a wooden elevator.

The elevator was shaped like a sphere that had no glass windows around its domed shaped roof. The elevator began to descend down towards the lower levels of the large building on a thick cable, while Ivy leaned over the railing of the elevator as she watched every level of the toy factory pass by her vision. Ivy turned around to face North and Jack when the young winter spirit started speaking to the older spirit.

"It's nothing personal North," said Jack as the elevator came to a stop when they reached their destination. "What you guys do just isn't me and the Spirit Seer's thing."

Ivy narrowed her eyes at the winter spirit: "Uh…this Spirit Seer has a name and I have to agree with Frosty here. This whole Guardian thing isn't something I'm into."

"Well, Man in Moon says it is your thing!" said North as he stepped out of the elevator. "We will see."

Ivy and Jack quickly followed after North when he finished signing a delivery paper that a yeti had held out to him. Ivy stared around in complete amazement when she saw millions of toys being made by yetis. Some of the toys that had already been made were flying around in the air with elves riding on top of them.

As Ivy stared at the wonder around her one word came out of her mouth: "Awesome."

Fayette chirped to get Ivy's attention as the mini fairy pointed to the retreating forms of North and Jack. Ivy quickly ran after the two men, while hearing the winter teen shouting out at North.

"Hey, slow down, would you!" exclaimed Jack with a large smile on his face. "I've been trying to bust in here for years, I want a good look!"

North turned to look at Jack, a bit peeved: "What do you mean 'bust in'?"

"Oh, don't worry," reassured Jack as Ivy caught up with him. "I never got past the yetis."

Ivy and Jack heard a grunt beside them as they turned to see a dark grey furred yeti glaring at Jack as he pointed at finger at the winter spirit in a sign of saying 'I'm watching you'.

"Oh, hey Phil," greeted Jack casually.

"You sure are well known within this place," said Ivy as she followed beside Jack. "No wonder you're on the naughty list."

The only response that Ivy got was Jack playfully shoving her with Ivy shoving him back. The two teens shared a chuckle before North called out from ahead of them.

"Keep up you two, keep up!" ushered the older spirit.

Ivy and Jack quickly followed after North while glancing around at the yetis that were making the toys. Ivy looked around the work shop in amazement before running up to North's side.

"Um…Mr. North, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but I thought the elves made the toys," said Ivy as she curiously looked around the workshop.

"Same here," spoke Jack as he came up beside Ivy after ducking from an incoming flying toy that was, ironically, a duck.

"We just let them believe that," whispered North to the two teens.

Ivy became confused for a moment at what North had said after he answered their question before she and Jack paused in their footsteps to watch a group of elves that were standing on one of the work tables. One of the elves had decorations hanging off of him, while standing on a square platform box. The elf nodded his head to another elf that held two electric plugins in his hands. The elf that held the two plugs connected them together and the elf with the Christmas ornaments quickly became stiff as he was electrocuted on the box he was standing on, while the lights lit up all around his body. Ivy stared at the two elves in befuddlement for a moment before she held both hands over her mouth as she tried to hold back a burst of laughter, but a few muffled giggles could be heard behind her hands. Jack had an amused look on his face as he stared at the elves before North walked up behind him and Ivy.

"Very nice," praised North with a polite smile. "Keep up good work."

North soon led Jack and the giggling Ivy away as they continued their trek through the workshop. Ivy slowly got a hold of herself as she followed behind North and Jack before looking at Fayette and saw the mini fairy trying to hold back her laugh so she wouldn't let anyone else know about her presence on Ivy's shoulder.

' _Can't really blame her,_ ' thought Ivy with a smile. ' _After all, that was a funny sight we just saw back there._ '

Ivy, North and Jack passed by a yeti that was painting a toy robot blue. The yeti's fur was a dusty brown color with dark brown eyes that were intensely staring at the toy robot a he concentrating on his work.

North took one look at the blue robot before he shouted at the yeti: "I don't like it, paint it red!"

The yeti stopped what he was doing with a look of disbelief on his face before shouting out something that sounded like 'what the' to Ivy. The yeti looked over at the full shelves of 50 blue toy robots before letting out an exasperated groan and banged his head down on the wooden table he was working at.

' _Poor guy,_ ' thought Ivy with sympathy as she continued to follow after the two male spirits.

North yelled out to his yeti helpers with enthusiasm: "Step it up everybody!"

North soon brought the two teens to his office as he opened the door and stepped in with Ivy and Jack following right behind him. Ivy and Jack stared around the room as they took in the sight before them. The office's ceiling and walls were all made out of snow and ice, while the floor was made out of grey stone. In the middle of the room was a large wooden desk with an ice sculpture that was a cross between a rollercoaster, mountains and a small town, sitting on top of the desk. Another table stood near the office's door that was equal to the size and length of the first table. A Christmas tree with its lights turned off was also in the room along with a few toys that were scattered on the floor or sitting on shelves. Ivy was amazed by the sight before her and turned to North with a smile on her face.

"Your office and work shop are pretty amazing Mr. North," complemented Ivy.

"Thank you," said North with a smile, "but please, just call me 'North'. Calling me mister makes me sound old."

Ivy let out a small chuckle before noticing an elf walking up to North on one of the ice shelves/desks with a large plate in its hands. On the plate was a fruit cake that looked as if it had been baked recently. The sight of the cake made Ivy's stomach growl as it reminded her that she hadn't had anything to eat in the last two days, but Ivy knew to never take anything from strangers that offer something to her, even if they offered you food. North took the plate from the elf, which fell to the floor, before the old man held out the cake to Jack and Ivy.

"Fruit cake?" offered North.

"Uh…no, thanks" Jack said politely.

"I'm good," said Ivy with a small smile.

After they politely turned down the older spirits offer, North threw the cake off to the side before he began to crack his knuckles.

"Now we get down to tacks of brass," spoke North in a serious voice.

Ivy frowned when she heard what North had said before she corrected him: "That's 'Brass Tacks,'."

Ivy and Jack were soon startled by the sound of the office door slamming shut behind them as they quickly turned around to see the door lock itself. They turned to glance at North and saw the large giant stocking towards them with a stone face glaring down at them.

"Who _**are**_ you Ivy and Jack Frost?" questioned North as he backed Jack and Ivy up against the door before he poked Jack in the chest. "What are your centers?"

"Excuse me?" spoke Ivy as she raised a confused eyebrow at North.

"Our centers?" echoed Jack with a frown.

"If Man in Moon chose you two to be Guardians, then the both of you must have something very special inside you," explained North to the two teens.

Ivy and Jack glanced at each other in befuddlement before glancing back at North. The older spirit stood back from the teens as he used his right hand to stroke his beard thoughtfully before smiling when he glanced at something on the wooden shelf that stood near the left side of the office door. Ivy and Jack watched as North stepped away from them as he picked up a Russian nest doll that looked like the big guy himself from the shelf.

"Here, this is how you see me, no?" said North as he held the doll in his left hand. "Very big, intimidating, but if you get to know me a little," that's when North handed Jack the doll with the teen looking at it in confusion before North gestured to him. "Well, go on."

Jack and Ivy looked at one another again with Ivy shrugging her shoulders at the Winter Spirit. Jack leaned his staff up against the side of the table before he opened the top lid of the Russian nest doll to see a happy Santa underneath.

"You are down-right jolly?" guessed Jack with a smirk.

"Ah, but not, _just_ , jolly" said North before Jack lifted the top lid off the jolly Santa to reveal another one that had half of his face hidden behind a cloak. "I'm also mysterious."

Jack took the third nest doll Santa out with his free hand and handed it over to Ivy. Ivy raised an eyebrow at Jack before she held it in her hands and opened the top lid of the third Santa to reveal a different one that was holding two swords criss-crossed with each other in front of itself, while it held a fierce look upon its face.

"And fearless," continued North in a bold voice.

Ivy lifted the lid of the fourth nest doll to reveal a Santa that was surrounded by animals as he held a young deer within his arms, while a single tear ran down the right side of his face.

"And caring," said North before adding as Ivy lifted the lid of the fifth Russian nest doll off to reveal the sixth and final doll underneath. "And at my center…"

Ivy handed the smaller doll over to Jack before the two looked at it in confusion. The sixth nest doll was completely different from the other five that they had previously seen. This one was a small baby wrapped up in a red blanket as it stared up at Ivy and Jack with its big blue eyes.

"There's a tiny wooden baby," muttered Jack as he rubbed his forehead.

"That's your center?" questioned Ivy in an exasperated voice.

"Not quite," replied North with a smile. "Look closer, what else do you two see?"

Ivy and Jack looked at each other for a second before glancing back down at the baby nest doll. They stared long and hard at it before answering North's question.

"Well…" Ivy started before scratching the side of her head.

"You have big eyes," finished Jack with a shrug.

"Yes!" exclaimed North happily when the two teenagers finally figured out the answer. "I have big eyes. _Very_ big, because they are full, of wonder!"

"Wonder?" parroted Ivy in confusion.

"Yes," replied North with a smile as he walked to the middle of the room of his work shop before turning around to face Jack and Ivy again. "It is what I was born with. Eyes that have always seen the wonder in everything!"

The toys within the room began to magically come to life before Ivy's eyes as she began to feel an old forgotten emotion from when she was a little girl. It was when she was a kid at the orphanage that the light of wonder would always shine within her and the other kids' eyes when Christmas came around as they stared at all of the wondrous things that were displayed before them. Ivy and Jack continued to look on as a small red plane flew past them and a Christmas tree, which had magically lit up.

North continued on with his speech as the door to the office/workshop opened to let the little plane fly outside.

"Eyes that have seen the lights in the trees and magic in the air. This wonder is what I put into the world!" exclaimed North as he, Ivy and Jack walked out of the office and stood near the wooden railing that over looked the giant globe and the work shop. "And what I protect in children. It is what makes me a Guardian."

The little air plane toy flew once around the trio before taking off somewhere within the building. Jack glanced down at the small Russian nest doll he held in his hand before he and Ivy looked up at North again.

"It is my center," said North before asking the two teens. "What are yours?"

Ivy and Jack both let out a sigh as they sadly looked down at the stone floor below their feet.

"I don't know," answered Jack glumly.

"I'm not even sure if I have a centre," spoke Ivy in a doubtful voice. "After all, I'm not a spirit like you guys."

"Do not be too doubtful about yourself young Ivy," said North with a smile as Ivy looked back up at him with a small frown. "Everyone, spirit and human, have a center that they aren't aware of yet, but do not worry. You and Jack will discover your centers one day, just be patient."

Ivy and Jack gave North a small smile as the older spirit gently made Jack's finger's close around the small Russian doll in a sigh that he should hold onto it until Jack found his centre. Ivy was about to say something when Fayette suddenly let out a squeak before the mini fairy flew up from Ivy's shoulder in a panic. Ivy quickly looked over at the little fairy in surprise before she quickly caught Fayette in her hands before the mini fairy could fly away.

"Whoa, whoa, easy Fayette," said Ivy in a gentle voice as she tried to calm the little fairy down, "what's wrong?"

"I see that we have an eavesdropper with us, yes?" questioned North with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's been with us for a while," answered Ivy as she looked up at North for a second before looking at the fairy that was shivering within her hands. "Something is really getting her agitated."

Just then Ivy, Jack and North heard the flutter of wings before they turned their attention towards the office window. The trio saw Tooth and her mini fairies zipping past the window outside in a big rush.

"Where are they going?" muttered Ivy before turning to face the hallway to her right when she heard the sound of feet coming towards her and the two males.

Running down the hallway on all fours was Bunny with Sandy floating close behind him. Bunny quickly came to a halt as he hopped up onto his two hind legs with a worried look written on his face.

"We have a problem mate," said Bunny as he stared at the trio before him, "trouble at the Tooth Palace."

Ivy's breath got caught within her throat at what Bunny had just told them. Someone was attacking the Tooth Fairy's home? Ivy looked down at Fayette as the mini fairy looked up at the human girl with panic written within her soft blue eyes. Ivy soon frowned in anger and determination. She was angry that something or someone was attacking Fayette's home and threatening the mini fairy's family and Ivy became determined to try and help Fayette protect her family. Even though Ivy thought she might become a dead weight to the Guardians in their fight against evil, she wasn't about to back down when it comes to helping people who were in trouble. Ivy took in a deep breath before letting it out as she looked up at Jack and the three Guardians.

Ivy soon asked them in a determined voice: "Where is this Tooth Palace?"

To Be Continued


	3. A Confrontation at Tooth Palace

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters, only the characters that I've created.

Chapter 3: A Confrontation at Tooth Palace

Ivy quickly followed after three Guardians with Fayette flying close to her shoulder and Jack was bringing up the rear with Sandy coming up right behind him. North was wearing a red coat that had black fur trimming and black fur cuffs on the end of his sleeves. He was also wearing a black furred hat on top of his head.

North shouted out orders to the yetis and elves when they entered through two large wooden doors that led them into an ice cavern that was held up by wooden beams: "Boy's, ship-shape, as soon as you can!"

Jack tried to get North's attention as he dodged around yetis that scurried around the ice cavern: "North! North! I told you I'm not going with you guys!"

"Why, are you scared?" asked Ivy with a smirk.

"No," replied Jack as he glared at Ivy. "But there is no way that I'm climbing into some rickety old…"

That's when Jack trailed off when he and Ivy saw the larger doors at the far end of the ice cavern begin to open before he finished his sentence: "sleigh…"

Ivy's mouth dropped open as she watched the yetis lead out six reindeers, but they were unlike the regular reindeer that Ivy had read in the books back at the orphanage. These reindeers were the size of draft horses as they came walking out through the large doors. One of the reindeer kicked out at the other reindeer behind it, which made the other reindeer thrust its antler head at Jack and Ivy. Jack quickly pulled Ivy out of the way before North stepped up in front of the reindeer and gently calmed it down. Ivy and Jack quickly turned their attention to the back of the team of six reindeers. What the reindeers pulled out behind them was a sleigh that wasn't anything Ivy had seen before in the books at the orphanage.

The sleigh was painted in the colors of gold, red, brown, white and black. The sleigh looked to be a cross between snowmobile and an F-14 jet fighter with the wings folded out to its sides. It had a dashboard with a miniature version of the globe back in the main building of North's home. The sleigh looked as if it could hold six or seven passengers in it. The sleigh came to a complete stop in front of the group as Ivy and Jack stared at it with wide eyes.

"Wow," voiced Ivy in amazement as she turned to look up at North. "You've definitely got style that's for sure."

North gave Ivy a smirk before glancing over at Jack who stared at the sleigh in stunned silence. Ivy raised an amused eyebrow at the winter spirit before gently nudging Jack in the arm with her left elbow.

"Well…aren't you going to say something?" asked Ivy with a chuckle.

Jack didn't say anything for a second until he finally spoke: "Okay…one ride, but that's it."

Ivy only rolled her eyes while mouthing 'boys' to Fayette who silently giggled in response. Ivy quickly hopped into the back of the sleigh along with Jack and Sandy, while North climbed into the front seat.

"Everyone loves the sleigh," spoke North before he noticed that Bunny wasn't climbing in to the sleigh as the Guardian of Wonder grabbed the reins. "Bunny, what are you waiting for?"

Ivy looked over at Bunny and saw him hesitating beside the sleigh before he answered.

"I think my tunnels might be faster mate," said Bunny before he raised his left foot up and tapped it against the side of the sleigh, which tilted slightly in the process, "and um…and safer."

Ivy cocked an eyebrow as Bunny turned away from the sleigh and started to walk away from it, but North scoffed as he grabbed the humanoid rabbit by the back of his neck and hauled him into the sleigh.

"Bah…get in!" exclaimed North as he placed Bunny in the back with the others. "Buckle up!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," started Bunny as he looked around his seat franticly before glancing back at North. "Where are the bloody seatbelts!?"

"Ha, that was just expression!" replied North with a chuckle.

"It's not an expression when it comes to a passenger's safety within this sleigh," voiced Ivy with Fayette sitting on her shoulder, while Ivy stood up in the middle of the sleigh with a frown on her face.

"And speaking of passenger safety, you might want to sit down Sheila," spoke Bunny as he gave Ivy a hard look.

"Oh, right," said Ivy as she quickly sat down on one of the wooden seats in the back of the sleigh beside Bunny.

"Are we ready?" asked North to one of the yetis that was doing maintenance on the sleigh's control panel.

The yeti franticly shook his hands to signal 'No', but North didn't seem to get the message for he was too excited to get moving.

"Good, let's go, clear!" exclaimed North.

North cracked the reins to signal for his reindeer team to start moving with the yetis and elves quickly scrambling to get out of the way. Ivy gave out a short yelp when the sleigh jerked forward as her back bumped against the seating behind her. Ivy heard the sound of something scratching against wood and quickly turned her eyes towards Bunny and saw him digging the claws of his left paw/hand into the wooden seating with a frightened look on his face.

' _Now he knows how scared I was when I was riding on his back at full speed,_ ' thought Ivy with a smirk before looking forward again.

The sleigh stated to pick up speed as the reindeer team raced through a long ice tunnel. Ivy gripped onto the edge of her seat as tightly as she could, while Fayette held on to Ivy's shoulder with her tiny hands. The pathway of the tunnel twisted and turned like the tracks of a roller-coaster ride at an amusement park. North quickly pulls down a lever on the dashboard to kick the sleigh into overdrive when they started to enter a corkscrew.

"I hope you like the loop-de-loop!" North called over his shoulder.

Ivy glanced up at Bunny beside her and saw him looking like he was going to throw-up as the rabbit tried to hold back his lunch.

"I hope you like carrots," threatened Bunny between clenched teeth.

Ivy rolled her eyes before glancing up at the top second seat behind her to see Sandy holding his arms high up above his head with a large grin on his face.

' _Looks like Sandy is having fun,'_ Ivy thought before she looked towards the front of the sleigh again before seeing a light shining at the end of the tunnel.

"Here we go!" North shouted.

In a few moments the tunnel opened up to the blue artic sky. The sound of skies sliding on ice quickly changed to the sound of them sliding against wooden boards. Ivy felt her heart jump within her chest when the sleigh had lifted off from solid ground and began to fly through open air before she slowly stood up from her seat. Ivy was a little unsteady on her legs at first, but soon steadied herself as she held onto the sidebars of the sleigh and looked out at the scene before her. Ivy let out a gasp when she saw just how high up they were as the sleigh flew over a large chasm that looked to be a hundred feet below them.

' _Now I really wish that North took to the idea of having seatbelts on this sleigh seriously,_ ' Ivy thought as she now felt a little concern about her safety within the sleigh.

North let out a loud laugh before shouting at the top of his lungs: "Klasno!"

Ivy looked back at Jack and the two Guardians who were sitting in the back. Jack was crouching on the very top seat as he looked back behind the sleight at where they had just flown straight out from. Sandy still hand his hands and arms up in the air with his eyes close while the same big grin was still on his face. Ivy soon glanced over at Bunny and saw him slumping down in his seat, while letting out a groan as he tightened his grip on the sleigh's side railing and seating. Ivy let a small smile of sympathy appear on her face as she walked over and sat back down in the same spot she had been sitting only a minute ago beside the large rabbit again.

"I'm guessing that you're the type of guy who is more down to earth, huh?" questioned Ivy in a teasing voice.

"You have no idea Sheila," groaned Bunny.

Ivy smirked and was about to say something else when Jack suddenly spoke up from his perch on the top seat.

"Hey Bunny," said Jack as Ivy and Bunny looked up at him.

Ivy saw the sly smirk on the winter spirit's face and became nervous at what Jack was going to do.

' _Please don't let him do something stupid that will give us a heart attack,_ ' Ivy prayed inside her head.

Unfortunately, Ivy's prayerwent unanswered as her gut feeling began to unfold.

"Check out this view," said Jack before he let out a scream when a strong gust of wind suddenly blew him off the sleigh.

"Jack!" shouted Ivy as panic began to grip her heart.

Ivy was about to shoot up from her seat and stand once again, but was quickly stopped by Bunny grabbing her right arm. Bunny gave Ivy a look that said 'don't you even think about standing up and jumping out of the sleigh'.

Ivy rolled her eyes before she spoke: "I'm not that stupid Long Ears."

"But you'll jump out head first without thinking things through," guested Bunny with a frown.

Ivy only let out a sigh before she and Bunny slowly poked their heads over the side of the sleigh's railings, expecting to see Jack falling to his doom, but instead they see the winter spirit on one of sleigh's skies. Jack was leaning back on the ski with one of his legs lazily hanging over the side, while he smirked up at Ivy and Bunny.

"Aw…you do care," teased Jack.

Ivy and Bunny only glared at Jack as they became annoyed at the trick that the winter spirit had played on them.

"Oh, rack off you bloody show pony," grumbled Bunny.

"That wasn't funny Jack," scolded Ivy.

Jack only laughed as he climbed back into the sleigh before noticing that Bunny was still holding onto Ivy's right arm.

"Uh…are you really that scared that you need to hold onto Ivy as if she were your teddy bear?" questioned Jack with a playful smirk still on his face.

Ivy blinked in confusion before looking down to see that Bunny hadn't released his grip on her arm. Bunny also realized that he hadn't let go of the girl's arm and quickly did so, while crossing his arms over his chest and turning his head away with a huff.

"Don't be ridiculous," growled Bunny. "I don't need to hold onto anyone's hand like I was some helpless kit."

"Yeah right, you're just too proud to admit anything to anyone that you're afraid of heights Long Ears," said Ivy as she sat back down beside Bunny.

Bunny only gave Ivy a sideways glare before North suddenly spoke up from the front of the sleigh.

"Hold on everyone, I know a short cut!" North shouted over the wind.

' _What does he mean by that?_ ' Ivy thought with a cocked eyebrow.

Ivy glanced over at Bunny and when she saw his eyes widening she knew that something was about to happen that she wouldn't like. Ivy turned her gaze forward again and quickly caught glimpse of a familiar trinket that North picked up from the side of the sleigh's dashboard.

"Oh no," muttered Ivy as her body grew tense.

"Oh strewth!" exclaimed Bunny in fear as he uncrossed his arms and began to grip at the seating once again. "I knew we should have taken the tunnels."

"I say," began North with a smile before whispering the name of their destination to the snow globe, "Tooth Palace."

With the image appearing inside the snow globe, North threw the globe far out into the sky in front of the sleigh as a giant portal appeared before the group. The portal showed the image of a large mountain within China for a brief second before disappearing into a white swirling vortex. North snapped the reins as he urged his reindeer forward towards the void. Ivy quickly reacted as she threw her arms around the closest thing that sat next to her and tightly closed her eyes. For a quickly moment, Ivy felt her stomach flip as the sleigh passed through the portal before it settled back down again. Ivy let out a sigh as she opened her eyes when she felt it was safe to do so.

' _That could have gone a lot worse,_ ' thought Ivy to herself.

Suddenly, Ivy realized that she was holding onto someone and she recognized who she was clinging to when she felt the side of her face press against soft fur. Ivy quickly let go of Bunny, while turning her face away with a blush of embarrassment appearing her cheeks as she looked up at the sky above her. Ivy heard Jack and Fayette giggling together and a deep frown appeared on her face.

"Shut up," muttered Ivy before she stood up and walked to the front of the sleigh.

Bunny, who had been quite surprised to find Ivy clinging onto him when they were going through the portal, watched the human girl stand beside North at the front of the sleigh in befuddlement. This girl was a complete puzzlement to the rabbit and he still didn't know what to make of the kid that he kidnapped off the street along with Jack Frost. Bunny's thoughts about the human child suddenly came to a halt when North suddenly spoke from the front seat of the sleigh.

"What?" North whispered as he stared intently out at the horizon in front of him.

Ivy, who had been amazed at the sight of the giant mountain that sleigh was heading towards, spotted a bunch of black dots flying towards them. Ivy was about to narrow her eyes to get a better look when she suddenly sensed danger within the air. Ivy quickly grabbed Fayette from her shoulder and ducked down onto the floor of the sleigh before something flew over her and the groups' heads. Ivy caught a glimpse of the thing that had passed overhead and she could have sworn that the thing she saw looked like a black horse. Bunny had jumped out of his seat and was looking over the side of the sleigh in confusion before quickly sitting back down in his seat when he was started back by one of those black blurs. North started swerving the sleigh back and forth as he tried to avoid crashing into any of the black blurs. Ivy was thrown around within the sleigh before she was sent rolling towards the backseats where she came to a stop as her back bumped into one of the lower seats. Ivy held her hands close to her chest, while holding Fayette in a gentle but firm grip before looking up at the sky above her in confusion.

"What the heck is going on here!?" exclaimed Ivy.

Suddenly, one of the black blurs headed straight towards them at breakneck speed. Sandy quickly conjured up an umbrella made of sand and opened it up before holding it out in front of him to act as a shield. The black thing, which Ivy now realized was a horse, slammed up against Sandy's umbrella and bounced off it. Ivy blinked in utter astonishment when she saw what had happened before looking at Sandy.

"I can't believe that actually worked," muttered Ivy as she slowly got up onto her feet again.

"Get down!" shouted Bunny.

Ivy was taken by surprise when Bunny grabbed her shoulder and made her duck down with him when another one of those black horses shot past over their heads. Ivy let out a sigh before looking at Bunny and nodded her head at him in her way of saying thanks to him, with Bunny nodding back to her. Ivy looked towards the right side of the sleigh and quickly caught a glimpse of a few tiny green blurs that were being chased by those black horses. Ivy quickly realized what those little green blurs were even before Jack shouted out what the horses were snatching out of the air.

"Their taking the Tooth Fairies!" shouted Jack when he leaned out the side of the sleigh.

"Oh no," gasped Ivy in horror.

Suddenly, the group saw one of the black horses chasing down the last group of Mini Fairies. Jack quickly leaped into action as he shot up into the sky and grabbed one of the last remaining Mini Fairies before the black horse could eat it like it did with Fayette's other siblings. Jack floated back down into the sleigh as he sat on one of the top back seats as he opened his hands to look down at the Mini Fairy he had rescued. Ivy placed Fayette on her right shoulder once she was sure it was safe to do so before climbing up to the seat that Jack sat on and looked at the fairy that he held in his hands.

The Mini Fairy looked exactly like the Fayette and her siblings, but with a slight difference. The top feather on the Mini Fairy's head was golden instead of green or blue like Fayette's top feather. The little fairy's left eye was blue while the right eye was purple and under the right eye was a small beauty mark.

Ivy stared at the Mini Fairy in worry when she saw that it was shaking in Jack's hands.

"Poor thing," voice Ivy.

"Hey little Baby Tooth," Jack spoke gently to the Mini Fairy as she looked up at him and Ivy "You okay?"

The Mini Fairy, now dubbed Baby Tooth, chirped as she nodded her head in reply to Jack's question. Fayette quickly flew off of Ivy's shoulder and landed in Jack's hand as she began to comfort her sister. Ivy watched with a smile on her face before turning her gaze towards the front of the sleigh to see the mountain that they were approaching growing bigger as they got closer to it. The sleigh soon entered a cave that was cut out on the side of the mountain and when they got inside, Ivy couldn't help but gap at the sight that met her eyes. Inside the mountain was a hidden palace with towers and columns that either hung up-side-down from the ceiling or on the side of the mountain's walls. The palace was in an Asian style and the towers were colored in red, gold and pink tiles. Ivy was impressed by the sight of this place, but she quickly lost interest when she spotted one of the black horses flying around the pillars and columns of the hidden palace.

"Over there!" shouted Ivy as she pointed towards the stray horse that was flying away from them.

North wasted no time in driving his reindeer forward to chase after the black horse. Fayette and Baby Tooth quickly ducked into Jack's hoodie as the winter spirit stepped up towards the front of the sleigh, where North handed him the reins.

"Here, take over!" exclaimed North.

Ivy quickly grabbed onto the side railing of the sleigh as she hung on tight with all her might, while Jack drove the sleigh like a crazy driver. Ivy watched in amazement as North jumped onto the front head of the sleigh and pulled out his two swords, while keeping perfect balance as he got into a battle stance. When they got closer to the black horse, North used one of his swords to slash at it and when North's sword made contact with the creature the horse exploded into black sand. What came out of the black sand were four golden cylinder boxes that were one foot long. The flat top surface of the box was that was designed with blue diamond shapes. Bunny quickly leaped from his seat and knelt down as he picked one of them up with his left paw/hand.

"They're stealing the teeth!" exclaimed Bunny.

Ivy looked at Bunny in confusion to what he had said: ' _Those little boxes hold children's baby teeth?_ '

Ivy's thoughts quickly came to a halt when she watched Sandy fingering some black sand that had landed on his left arm. A confused and worried look crossed over Bunny and Sandy's face as they looked at one another. Ivy got a sickening feeling in her stomach when she saw the look on the two Guardians' faces and she was about to ask what was wrong, but that quickly left her mind when she saw that the sleigh was heading towards one of the palace's towers.

"Jack, look out!" shouted Ivy as she pointed to the front of the sleigh.

Jack, who had looked behind him to glance at the others in the back seat for a moment, quickly acted as he steered the reindeers away from the tower and roughly landed the sleigh on a nearby platform. The rough landing nearly jostled Ivy out of her seat, but she hung on tight to the side railing of the sleigh, while the others were thrown out of their seats. Ivy let out a sigh once the sleigh stopped tipping slightly to the side and straightened itself out before Ivy, Jack and the three male Guardians looked up to see Tooth franticly flying around in a panic. Ivy quickly jumped out of the sleigh along with Jack and the three male Guardians as North called out to the female Guardian.

"Tooth, are you alright!?" yelled North.

For a second Tooth didn't answer, but when she did it was in a voice full of sadness and distress.

"They-they took my fairies and the teeth, all of them!" cried out Tooth as she fluttered down to a smaller platform in defeat. "Everything is gone…everything."

The three male Guardians leaped or floated up to the platform that Tooth now sat on with a look of despair and tried to comfort her. Seeing the look on the Queen Fairy's face made Ivy's heart drop into her stomach. No one, not even a mother, should feel the despair of losing their children. Ivy then remembered Fayette and Baby Tooth as a smile appeared on her face.

"Not quite everything," spoke Ivy before the two Mini Fairies flew out of Jack's hood.

Fayette and Baby Tooth both let out happy squeaks as they flew to Tooth who smiled in joy at the sight of her two daughters.

"Oh, thank goodness," said Tooth as she cradled the two Mini Fairies in her hands. "At least you two are alright."

Ivy smiled sadly at the happy scene for a moment, but she suddenly became tense when she sensed a dark presence within the Tooth Palace. The hair on the back of Ivy's neck stood on end as she began to look around to find the dark force before a voice spoke from out of nowhere within the Tooth Palace.

"Well, isn't this exciting," said a dark voice. "The Big Four, all in one place. I'm a little star struck."

Ivy was the first one to locate where the voice was coming from as she turned her gaze up to the platform that hung above the Guardians' heads and saw a man standing there. The man had black hair that was slicked back, dull golden eyes and grey skin. The man was wearing a long black robe that went all the way down to his feet, black pants and black shoes. The man was smirking down at the Guardians, while Ivy glared intently up at the man as she felt an intense anger flowing through her veins.

' _This guy must be Pitch Black,_ ' Ivy thought quietly to herself.

The man, Pitch, began to speak again as the Guardians looked up at him: "You liked my little show on the glob North? Got you all together didn't I."

North let out a frustrating growl as he stamped his foot down on the platform in anger.

' _So that's what is going on here,_ ' thought Ivy as realization dawned on her. ' _This guy planned to rile up the Guardians to get them to gather up in one place so that they could leave their homes unprotected._ '

Tooth, who was beyond anger, quickly flew towards Pitch, who had walked around behind a flower shaped spire that sat on top of the platform he was standing on.

"Pitch!" shouted Tooth as she flew up to the top spire, "You have got 30 seconds to return my fairies-"

"Or what?" interrupted Pitch as he spoke from another platform that he had transported himself onto. "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?"

"This guy is really asking for it," voiced Ivy with Jack nodding in agreement.

"Why are you doing this?" questioned North.

Pitch sneered before answering North's question: "Maybe I want what you have…to be believed in!"

Ivy glanced over at Jack and saw the winter spirit falter his stance as a look of understanding and sympathy came over his face. Ivy sadly looked at Jack for a moment before glaring back up at Pitch as the man manifested himself from the shadows on another platform.

"Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds!" growled Pitch.

"Maybe that's where you belong!" countered Bunny fiercely.

Suddenly, Pitch appeared underneath the platform the Guardians were standing on and making Bunny jump back a little before the Shadow Man spoke again.

"Oh, go suck an egg, rabbit," said Pitch.

Bunny angrily leaned over the edge of the platform and tried to make a grab at Pitch, but the Shadow Man disappeared before the rabbit could catch him.

' _This guy isn't going to be easy to catch,_ ' Ivy thought as she slowly looked around, while staying close to Jack. ' _He's able to use the shadows to transport himself from one place to another in a matter of seconds, so it'll be hard to pin-point where he'll pop up next._ '

Ivy, Jack and the Guardians soon heard Pitch's voice speaking again from all around them when he took notice of the winter spirit.

"Hang on. Is that…Jack Frost? Since when have you all become so chummy?"

"We're not," spoke Jack as he and Ivy tensed, while he took on a defensive stance.

Ivy quickly sensed Pitch appearing behind her and Jack as she sharply turned around to glare at the Shadow Man before he spoke.

"Oh good, a neutral party," said Pitch as Jack turned around to face him as well, while the Shadow Man smirked before he turned and started to walk a few steps away from the two teenagers. "Then I'm going to ignore you and your little friend there, but I'm sure that you two are used to that by now."

"And you aren't?" questioned Ivy in a sharp voice.

Pitch turned his gaze on Ivy as he glared at the young girl for a moment before recognition flashed within his eyes.

"You have a sharp tongue there to speak to someone who can crush you little Spirit Seer," spoke Pitch before his smirk appeared on his face again as he continued to walk away. "But…I guess that's to be expected from someone who was abandoned by her parents and had been left alone for fourteen years, while that same person grew to fear and hate the spirits that she sees everyday of her life."

Ivy clenched her hands into fists as she glared at the Shadow Man that was slowly walking away with a smug look on his face. Ivy was about to open her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Bunny shouting out from the platform.

"Pitch!" yelled Bunny angrily as he leaped down from the platform and ran between the two teens.

Ivy was taken by surprise once again when Bunny grabbed her right arm and Jack's left arm and pulled the two of them behind him before running towards Pitch.

"You shadow-sneaking ratbag, come 'er!" shouted Bunny before he stopped in his tracks when Pitch disappeared in a veil of shadows again.

Ivy quickly turned her eyes up towards one of spires of Tooth's palace as she caught sight of Pitch appearing above them from the shadows again.

"Up there!" shouted Ivy as she pointed towards the spire Pitch was on.

Tooth quickly jumped into action as she grabbed one of Bunny's boomerangs and flew towards the spire Pitch was standing on, while letting out a war cry. Tooth only got about four feet when she was suddenly stopped by one of those black sand horses as it materialized from out of nowhere and reared at Tooth angrily. The Queen Fairy quickly flew back in fear, while Baby Tooth and Fayette let out squeaks of terror before they flew over to Jack and Ivy. Baby Tooth hid in Jack's hoodie, while Fayette hid in Ivy's hair. Ivy glared up at the creature that took away all of Fayette's sisters and she could help, but growl in anger. Pitch let out a loud laugh as he began to settle the sand creature down.

"Whoa," said Pitch as he ran his hands against the horse's neck, "easy girl, easy."

Pitch held out his right hand as a swirl of black sand danced around at the edge of his fingertips as he showed it off to the Guardians.

"Look familiar Sandman?" questioned Pitch with a smirk.

Sandy held up his right arm and conjured up a swirl of golden sand that danced on the palm of his hand. He quickly lowered his arm as he glared up at Pitch in anger.

"It took me a while to perfect this little trick of yours," boasted Pitch as he gently stroked the side of the horse's face. "Turning dreams into Nightmares."

' _This guy sure is full of himself,_ ' thought Ivy as she felt everyone tense up around her as they all glared up at Pitch.

"Don't be nervous," spoke Pitch, "it only riles them up more. They can smell _fear_ you know."

Bunny scoffed as he took his boomerang back from Tooth: "What fear? Of you? No one's been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!"

Ivy glanced at Bunny in confusion for a second before looking back up at Pitch and saw him smiling, but Ivy could sense a lot of pent-up anger inside of him as he began to remember something from long ago.

"Oh…the Dark Ages," spoke Pitch fondly. "Everyone frightened, miserable, such happy time for me, oh, the power I wielded! But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Lifting their hearts and giving them hope. Meanwhile, everyone just wrote me off as just a bad dream! 'Oh there's nothing to be afraid of, there's no such thing as the Boogeyman'!"

Ivy rolled her eyes after hearing Pitch's sob story before she spoke in a low voice.

"This guy is supposed to be a threat?" scoffed Ivy before she raised her voice so that everyone could hear her. "Buddy you sound more like a kid that keeps whining about not getting anything he wants then an adult who is looking for revenge!"

The smirk on Pitch's face fell as he glared down at Ivy in annoyance and anger: "You think that I'm not a threat to you Spirit Seer?!"

"Not really," replied Ivy in boredom as she placed her left hand on her hip. "And you want to know the reason? It's because you're really not all that scary from my point of view."

Pitch growled in anger, while Jack and the four Guardians looked at Ivy in astonishment. No one ever had the guts to stand up and say those words when they come face-to-face with the Boogeyman. Bunny was looking at Ivy in complete astonishment as he began to remember one person who had said the exact same words of when he encountered Pitch and had helped the Guardians in their fight against the Boogeyman during the Dark Ages.

' _But that can't be possible,_ ' Bunny thought with a frown. ' _He told us that he didn't have a mate or any children before Pitch attacked his people._ '

Pitch continued to glare down at Ivy for a moment before his cocky smirk appeared again: "Well, little Spirit Seer, that's all about to change."

Ivy frowned at what Pitch had said before she caught the sound of something crumbling down all around her. Ivy quickly turned towards the source of the sound and saw some of the towers and spires losing their brilliant colors.

"Oh look, it's happening already," said Pitch.

"What is?" asked Jack.

Ivy turned her attention on Tooth and saw the Queen Fairy slowly falling to the ground with a sad look on her face as tears started to well up within her eyes. Ivy quickly ran over to Tooth and knelt down beside the Queen Fairy before placing her right hand on Tooth's left shoulder and gently placing her left on the fairy's lower arm. The emotion that Ivy was feeling from Tooth both saddened and angered her.

"Children are waking up and realizing that the Tooth Fairy never came," spoke Pitch as he answered Jack's question. "I mean, such a little thing, but to a child…"

Ivy turned her gaze up towards Pitch again as she gazed furiously at the one that was causing the Queen Fairy so much pain.

"What's going on?" asked Jack.

"They…they don't believe in me anymore," voice Tooth.

"Didn't they tell you and your little friend, Jack?" questioned Pitch with a smirk. "It's great being a Guardian, but there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect, wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away and little by little, so do they."

Ivy stood up as she glared at Pitch in disgust and anger. The young mortal girl gripped her hands into tightly clenched fists as she flashed her sharp K9's at the Boogeyman. Pitch didn't seem to notice or care how Ivy was glaring daggers at him as he continued on with his boasting, while rubbing salt onto the Guardian's wounds.

"There will be no more Christmas, Easter or little fairies flying around in the night. There will be nothing, but fear and darkness…and me," Pitch paused for a moment as he glared down at the Guardians. "It's your turn, not to be believed in!"

"Put a cork in it Cry Baby!" shouted Ivy with a snarl before Bunny threw his two boomerangs at Pitch.

Pitch quickly dodged the incoming weapons before jumping onto the horse's back to dodge the boomerangs again as he took off on the horse he was riding on. The horse and its rider disappeared over the edge of the platform with the Guardians quickly following after them. Ivy, fuelled by her anger, followed after the Guardians and without hesitation jumped off the edge of the platform as she let gravity pull her downwards. Jack was right behind Ivy, with a little hesitation on his part. As the Guardians chased after Pitch, Bunny threw a couple of egg bombs from his holster as he tried to intercept the Shadow Man's escape, but Pitch and his mount easily dodged the egg bombs before they disappeared into the shadows. Jack quickly grabbed Ivy around the waist as he eased the both of them down to the ground before they and the Guardians landed in a crystal blue lagoon. They were tense for a few seconds as they waited to see if Pitch would appear again. After a moment, North let out a frustrated sigh.

"He's gone."

"That coward," muttered Ivy as Jack let her go, "he stands around mocking you guys and in the end he doesn't have the guts to face us in a real fight."

"Do not underestimate Pitch, Ivy," cautioned North as he turned to look at the young female teenager. "Pitch can be tricky person to beat."

"But he's still coward," argued Ivy as she began to pace back and forth angrily. "That guy has a lot of nerve to think he's all high and mighty with those sand ponies of his."

"Those sand ponies are called Nightmares, Sheila," corrected Bunny as he, Jack and the Guardians watched the agitated girl pacing in front of them.

Ivy ignored what Bunny said, showing that she didn't care about what the sand horses are called: "I bet that Cry-Baby wouldn't be so tough if he was forced to fight on his own."

"You might be right about that," spoke North with a short nod of agreement.

"But let's not forget that Pitch can use the shadows to escape us or use them for sneak attack on us as well," Tooth pointed out.

"Yeah, that is a problem," muttered Ivy angrily. "Ugh, that guy makes me so mad to the point where I can feel my own blood boiling up inside me. When we encounter that creep again I'm going to tear him to bits."

"Hopefully when we see him again you'll be yourself and not something else entirely," said Jack cryptically.

Ivy stopped in her pacing as she turned to look at jack in confusion: "What are you talking about?"

Jack didn't answer as he only scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. Ivy raised an eyebrow at jack before turning to look at the Guardians and saw them staring at her in shock and astonishment.

"What?" asked Ivy as she grew a little uncomfortable under the Guardians' stares, "why are you looking at me like I have two head or something?"

"Uh…you still have one head," North answered hesitantly, "but…"

Ivy began to grow impatient: "But what?"

"You might want to take a look for yourself," said Tooth as she pointed towards the water.

Ivy cocked her head to the side in confusion before doing as Tooth told her and walked towards the edge of the water of the lagoon. Ivy looked down at the surface of the water to see her reflection and what she saw shocked the young girl to her core. Staring right back at Ivy was the face of a wolf with sandy brown fur along with white fur that covered the bottom half of its muzzle. Ivy went still for a moment as her blue eyes grew wide in shock and panic. Two sandy brown wolf ears that were tipped white twitched on top of Ivy's head. Ivy began to shake before she slowly raised her hands up in front of her face. Ivy saw that her hands had grown bigger and are covered in fur, while her finger nails had turned into black claws. Ivy stared at her hands for a long moment as her breathing began to quicken before she opened her mouth and let out a loud howl mixed scream into the air.

To be continued


	4. Explanations and Teeth collecting

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Chapter 4: explanations and teeth collecting

Jack and the four Guardians watched in concern and worry as Ivy paced back and forth in front of them as the young teen tried to come to grips on what was happening to her. Fayette fluttered beside her mother and sister as she watched her friend in helplessness and pity.

"This cannot be happening," muttered Ivy in a panic voice as she ran her now slightly larger hands through her hair and over her new wolf ears that sat on top of her head. "This cannot be happening. I cannot be turning into a wolf!"

"Unfortunately you are kiddo," muttered Jack.

"You're not helping!" snapped Ivy angrily as she glared at Jack for a moment before continuing on with her pacing.

"Ivy, you've got to calm down," said Tooth in a soothing voice.

"How can I calm down!?" shouted Ivy as she stopped in her pacing to glance at Tooth for a second before continuing on with her pacing once again. "I'm turning into a wolf for goodness sakes! I have enough problems with seeing spirits and being chased around by them, not to mention being forced to become a Guardian like you four. I'm supposed to be a normal girl for crying out loud!"

"Ivy!" barked Bunny as he hopped in front of the girl's pacing path and placed his paw/hands on the teen's shoulders before speaking gently to her. "Calm down, getting upset only makes it worse and getting angry will only speed up the transformation faster, understand?"

Ivy looked up at Bunny for a tense moment before slowly nodding her head to show that she understood.

"Good," said Bunny with a sigh, "now listen, for you to turn back into your human form you need to relax."

Ivy nodded again and tried to calm herself down by closing her eyes tightly shut, while taking in a couple of quick breaths. But she wasn't able to relax, because the shock of what was happening to her was still fresh within her mind.

' _Calm down, calm down!_ ' chanted Ivy harshly inside her head.

Suddenly, Ivy felt Bunny's paw/hands gently cupping her cheeks, while feeling him press his furry forehead against her own.

"Ivy, listen I want you to breathe with me okay?" spoke Bunny.

"O-okay," whispered Ivy in a shaky voice.

"Alright," said Bunny. "Now breathe in, than breathe out. Breathe in and breathe out."

Ivy did what she was told as she started to match her breathing with Bunny's. Ivy finally found herself relaxing as her breathing started to fall into sync with Bunny's breathing before she opened eyes and looked into the green eyes of the humanoid rabbit.

"D-did it work?" asked Ivy in a hopeful voice.

Bunny only smiled as he pulled back to give Ivy her space while letting his paw/hands drop down to his side.

"Look for yourself," Bunny said as he tilted his head towards the waters of the lagoon.

Ivy did what Bunny told her to do as she walked over to the lagoon again and looked down at her reflection. Ivy let out a sigh when she saw her human face looking back at her.

"Thank goodness," voiced Ivy as she placed a hand over her chest in relief. "I thought that I was going to be stuck in that wolf form forever."

"That's what happens to young shapeshifters Sheila," spoke Bunny as the young teen girl turned around to face him, "especially to those of the Ōkami Clan."

"Ōkami Clan?" echoed Ivy as she frowned at Bunny in befuddlement.

"That's right," replied Bunny with a nod as a serious look came over his face. "They were a clan of shapeshifters that use to live a long time ago. They weren't immortal like other spirits, but they do have a longer life span like my kind."

"Wait a minute," said Ivy as she held her hands up to stop Bunny for a sec, "Ōkami means wolf in Japanese, right?"

Bunny nodded his head at Ivy as the teen stared intently at him in disbelief before he continued.

"The Ōkami Clan lived in hiding for a thousand years and had little contact with spirits, while keeping themselves hidden from humans who hunted them."

"Whoa, Bunny, it sounds as if you know this wolf clan personally," said Jack with a smirk.

"I did, and so did North, Tooth and Sandy," replied Bunny as he turned to look at Jack. "We were four of the few spirits who knew of the clan's existence after encountering a very young and rambunctious wolf pup going by the name of Kiba. Kiba befriended us, the Guardians, and was granted permission from his father, who was leader of the clan, to show us his home."

"Kiba and his clan were known to be powerful shapeshifting warriors who can do more than just shapeshift into humans," spoke North as he took over explaining what the Ōkami Clan was. "They were also known to disappear into the fog or mists of their homeland, while not leaving behind any trace of their existence for anyone to find."

"They sound impressive," muttered Jack as he rested his staff on his left shoulder. "They must be one tough wolf pack for anyone to face off against within a battle."

"They use to be mate," muttered Bunny with a sad frown.

Ivy's brows knitted together in a frown when she heard what Bunny had said and quickly marched up to the rabbit before standing in front of him.

"What do you mean 'use to be'?" asked Ivy curiously.

Bunny looked down at the young girl sadly before letting out a sigh: "The Ōkami Clan was whipped out by Pitch and his army of Fearlings in the 1890's."

Ivy's and Jack's mouths' hung open in shock and disbelief as they stared at Bunny in complete astonishment. Ivy was quick to recover as she spoke in a soft yet confused voice.

"H-how...you said that hardly any spirits, besides you guys, know about the Ōkami Clan's hidden home."

"Pitch found out about the clan by making a bargain with a warrior that was in the lower ranks within the Ōkami Clan by promising him power," explained Bunny as his paw/hands clenched into fists. "The warrior quickly accepted and became a traitor to his clan by leading Pitch and his Fearlings to the location of where the Ōkami Clan's home was hidden. But the traitor's treachery didn't go unpunished. He was quickly killed by Kiba, who had grown up to be one of the strongest warriors within the army, but Kiba also became the last of his kind after the battle with Pitch."

Ivy let this information sink in before she began to speak again: "Where is this Kiba guy now? I mean, if you guys know him then you must know where he is, right?"

"I'm sorry, but no…we don't" replied Tooth as she looked at Ivy with sadness shinning within her eyes.

"What do you mean?" questioned Ivy with a frown.

"We don't exactly know where Kiba is, because he had disappeared off earth face," replied North with a sigh.

"You mean he disappeared off the face of the earth?" corrected Ivy as she turned to look at the Guardian of Wonder for a sec.

"Is what I said," replied North.

Ivy let out a frustrating sigh as she ran her hands through her hair, while looking down at the ground in exasperation.

"So what you guys are trying to tell me is that I'm some kind of shapeshifter that might be related to this Ōkami Clan that had been extinct for hundreds or thousands of years?" questioned Ivy as her voice rose up in volume.

"Yes," North answered in a serious voice as he pointed the tip of his sword at her, "which means that you could be the last survivor of the Ōkami Clan."

Ivy's eyes widened in complete shock and disbelief after hearing what North had said before shaking her head in denial.

"No, no!" shouted Ivy angrily as she started to franticly pace in front of the Guardians again. "I'm supposed to be a normal human girl, not some kind of freak!"

"You're not a freak Ivy," spoke Tooth gently. "It's only natural for shapeshifters to know that they were going to gain their powers when they come of age."

"Well I didn't know that I was a shapeshifter!" exclaimed Ivy as she stopped to look at Tooth. "No one ever told me that I had powers to change into a wolf!"

"Hey, hey calm down," said Jack as he held up his free hand in front of him, "everything is going to be alright."

"No, it's not!" shouted Ivy as she felt tears welling up within her eyes. "I'll never find a family who would want me now that I know that I'm not normal!"

The Guardians and Jack didn't respond for a moment as they all looked at Ivy in sadness and pity. They watched as Ivy turned away from them and curled into herself as she sunk to the ground, while she hugged her arms around her knees. Ivy's shoulders shook in anger and frustration as she stubbornly held back the tears that were trying to fall from her eyes. After a second, Ivy flinched when she felt a hand gently rest on the middle of her back before looking up to see Jack crouching beside her. Jack's eyes held a deep understanding of what it feels like to be alone and not having a family to look after him in his three hundred years of isolation. That was all it took for Ivy to break down as she flung herself onto Jack and started crying into the fabric of the winter spirit's hoodie. Jack was shocked about Ivy's action for a second before a sad frown appeared on his face as he gently wrapped his left arm around Ivy and hugged her. The four Guardians watched from the sidelines as Jack comforted Ivy, while the young girl cried against his chest. The Guardians have never really had much contact with children and they had never thought of spending time with them either, because they were always busy on just giving joy to children. Now, as they were watching Ivy cry, some of them wished that they had spent a little more time with children so that they could comfort the young teenage girl in front of them. It took a while, but Ivy soon calmed down and was now sitting with Jack and Tooth about four feet away from North, Bunny and Sandy as the three male Guardians talked amongst themselves. Ivy quietly listened to what they were saying, while watching Tooth hold one of the few tooth boxes that the group had been able to save from Pitch.

"Okay, alright, I'll admit, you were right about Pitch coming back," said Bunny as he sat on top of a rock while he faced North, who stood in front of him.

"This one time I wish I was wrong," spoke North before he let out a growl. "But he will pay."

Ivy bit her bottom lip as she sat on the ground beside Jack before speaking to Tooth in a quiet voice.

"I'm sorry about the fairies," said Ivy.

"You and Jack should have seen them," said Tooth with a small smile on her face. "They've put up such a fight."

Baby Tooth chirped in agreement as she flew around Jack proudly. Fayette chirped as well as she landed on Ivy's shoulder, while the young teenager smiled at her.

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" asked Jack curiously.

"It's not the teeth that he wanted," answered Tooth as she sadly looked up at Jack. "It's the memories inside them."

Ivy raised a curious eyebrow as she looked at the tooth box that Tooth was holding before looking up at the Queen Fairy's face again.

"What do you mean?" asked Jack, who was equally curious as Ivy.

"This is why we collect the teeth Jack, they hold the most important memories of childhood," answered Tooth.

"Wait a minute," spoke Ivy with a frown, "are you saying that children's baby teeth hold the memories of what they did in their childhood?"

"Yes Ivy, they do," replied Tooth as she let the tooth box fall to the ground before hovering into the air.

Ivy stood up from the ground, along with Jack, as she watched Tooth fly slowly over the waters of the lagoon towards a giant flat rock surface. Ivy's mouth hung open in astonishment when she saw a beautiful mural of Tooth and her mini fairies hovering in front of a group of kid who were offering their teeth to them.

"Whoa," breathed Ivy in amazement as she stared at the mural for about a minute before noticing Jack walking towards the mural, while freezing the water beneath his feet as he stepped onto the surface of it.

Ivy stayed on land while she listened in on what Tooth was saying.

"My fairies and I watch over them," continued Tooth as she and Jack both hovered or stood in front of the mural, "and when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. We had everyone's memories here." Tooth than placed a hand on Jack's shoulder as she looked at the winter spirit with a smile, "yours too."

"My memories?" asked Jack as he looked at Tooth in confusion.

"From when you were young," explained Tooth "before you became Jack Frost."

"But…I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost," said Jack as he stepped away from Tooth.

"Of course you were. We were all someone before we were chosen," said Tooth.

Jack stared at Tooth in surprise: "What?"

Ivy soon heard North chuckling as she turned around to face him and the other two male Guardians.

"You should have seen Bunny." North chuckled as he gestured towards the humanoid rabbit with one of his swords.

Bunny bristled as he turned to glare at North: "Hey, I told you never to mention that!"

"Aw…what's the matter Long Ears? You too embarrassed about how cute you were when you were a baby?" asked Ivy with a playful smirk on her face.

Bunny growled as he turned to glare at Ivy: "You watch your mouth, wolf pup!"

The smirk disappeared from Ivy's face and was replaced with an angry snarl: "What did you just call me!?"

Before Bunny could answer, Jack spoke again in a confused voice that caused Ivy to turn around to look at the winter spirit again.

"That night at the pond…I just assumed…are you saying that I had a life before that?" asked Jack as excitement began to build up within him. "That I had a home and a family?"

Tooth looked at him in confusion and sympathy: "You really don't remember?"

"He must have amnesia," guessed Ivy as Fayette, Baby Tooth and the male Guardians looked at her expectantly. "Something must have happened to Jack within his past life to make him lose his memories."

A question mark symbol appeared above Sandy's head as he looked up at Ivy for answers to the theory that the young girl had thrown out.

"You're asking how Jack could have lost his memories?" asked Ivy as Sandy nodded his head at her. "Well…Jack could have been in an accident in the result of bumping his head on something or he could have experience something traumatic within his past life to make him forget."

"Those are some good theories young Ivy," said North with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I try my best," said Ivy with a smile.

"All these years, the answers were right here." Jack spoke in excitement. "If I find my memories, then I'll know why I'm here. You have to show me!"

As Jack flew off into the air, Tooth spoke as she looked at the winter spirit with sadly.

"I can't Jack, Pitch has them," said Tooth.

Jack stopped in midflight and turned before landing on a large rock as he stood underneath a large tree with flowers blooming on its branches. Jack crouched down as he stared at Tooth, Ivy and the other three Guardians in determination.

"Then we have to get them back!" exclaimed Jack.

"Oh yeah, and how are we supposed to do that?" questioned Ivy as she crossed her arms over her chest. "We have no clue where the Shadow Man is and even if we did know where he is, how are you supposed to get your memories back. Knock on his door and ask him to give your memories back to you?"

To prove her point, Ivy lifted her right hand up into the air as she curled it into a fist before pretending to knock on an invisible door.

"Knock, knock. Excuse me Mr. Shadow Man, but could you stop your mad conquest in destroying the Guardians for a sec, and return my baby teeth that may hold the memories of my childhood in them so that I can find out who I am? Believe me Frosty that's not going to work with a guy who acts like an immature kid."

"Well, don't you have a positive attitude," said Jack in a sarcastic voice.

"I'm only stating the facts Icy," muttered Ivy.

The conversation between the two came to a halt when Tooth let out a sudden gasp. Everyone quickly turned their attention on the Fairy Queen and saw a couple of her feathers falling to the ground.

"Oh no!" gasped Tooth.

Ivy, Jack and the three male Guardians quickly turned their attention towards the mural and saw that just like Tooth's palace it was also disintegrating.

"The children," said Tooth fearfully, "we're too late."

Ivy could only stare helplessly at the mural for a moment before she was startled by North suddenly shouting from behind her.

"No, no! No such thing as too late!" North yelled.

Ivy watched North with an unsure look in her eyes, while the Guardian of Wonder started to pace as he lightly tapped the back of his swords against his shoulders. Ivy watched North at a safe distance and began to hear him muttering, while tapping his fingers against the handles of his swords.

"Wait, wait, wait-wait-wait-wait-wait," said North before he suddenly shouted out in excitement "IDEA!"

North's sudden shout made Ivy jump back in surprise, while staring at the sword that had been swung at Bunny. Luckily, the rabbit was fast enough to dodge as he leaned back and stared wide eyed at the point of North's sword.

' _This guy is a little too enthusiastic for his own good,_ ' thought Ivy to herself.

North squatted and began to swing the sword in his right hand back and forth between Bunny and Sandy.

"We will collect the teeth!" exclaimed North excitedly.

"What!?" echoed Ivy and Tooth in shock and disbelief.

"We get teeth! Children keep believing in you!" explained North with a large smile as he pointed a finger at Tooth.

Tooth wasn't so confident with the idea and began to point out a flaw in North's plan: "We're talking seven continents! Millions of kids-"

"Give me break," interrupted North in an easy going voice, "do you know how many toys I deliver in one night?"

"And eggs I hide in one day?" boasted Bunny with a smirk on his face.

"They do have a point Tooth," spoke Ivy with a shrug of her shoulder as a smirk appeared on her face. "Besides, we won't know if we don't try, right?"

Tooth smiled at Ivy before she and the group turned their attention on Jack.

"And Jack," started North. "If you help us, we will get you your memories."

Ivy frowned at what North had just said to Jack before shaking her head. Using Jack's memories as a bargaining chip to get the winter spirit to help them in their fight against the Boogeyman didn't sit well with Ivy.

' _It will only cause more problems for us if the Shadow Man finds out about Jack's memories,_ ' thought Ivy with a frown of worry written upon her face for a second before North suddenly spoke to her.

"Also Ivy," started North as he turned to look at her along with the other Guardians. "If you help us, then we will help you…"

"You don't need to make a bargain with me North," interjected Ivy as she raised a hand up to stop the man from continuing. "I'll help you all out for both you guys and the children's sakes."

"Fine by me Sheila," spoke Bunny with a nod. "But first, you might want to tuck those ears of yours back into hiding again."

Ivy gave Bunny a confused look for a moment before feeling something twitching on top of her head. Ivy's hands shot up to the top of her head before frowning when she felt two furry wolf ears sticking out on her head again. Ivy glared at Bunny who only smirked at her in amusement.

"I hate you," muttered Ivy in a flat voice before she hid her wolf ears again.

Jack let out a chuckle as he crouched down, while leaning his staff against his shoulder before he gave North his answer: "I'm in."

Scene change: China

Once they arrived at their first destination Ivy, Jack and the Guardians got started on their teeth collecting raid. Ivy was now running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop in Shanghai China along with North and Bunny, while Jack and Sandy either flew or floated through the city. North was popping in and out of chimneys, while letting out a hearty laugh.

"Quickly, quickly!" shouted North in excitement.

"I'm moving as fast as I can here White Beard!" exclaimed Ivy before jumping to the next roof with ease.

"Hop to it rabbit, I'm five teeth ahead!" shouted Jack as he flew through the air, while following Bunny over the rooftops.

"Yeah right!" scoffed Bunny as he leaped to the roof that Ivy was running on. "Look, I'd tell ya' to stay out of my way, but really what's the point, because you won't be able to catch up anyway!"

"Is that a challenge cottontail?" asked Jack with a smirk.

"Oh, you don't wanna race a rabbit mate," spoke Bunny with a playful smirk of his own.

Ivy quickly stopped in mid-run when Bunny suddenly dashed passed her and began to pick up speed as he became a blur before her eyes, while he bounced off the buildings of Shanghai.

"Whoa!" shouted Jack in surprise before he quickly resumed his flying speed.

"Here we go," muttered Ivy with a shake of her head.

Suddenly, Ivy heard North's voice shouting from a few chimneys away and turned to watch him pop out from a chimney in a cloud of soot.

"A race? Is it a race?!" exclaimed North excitedly before he jumped down another chimney and popping out from another one farther away from Ivy's eye sight. "This is going to be"- he dropped down the same chimney and popping out of a different one-"EPIC!"

' _Boy's_ ' thought Ivy with a roll of her eyes, ' _why do they always have to make everything into a competition?_ '

Ivy started to run and jump from rooftop to rooftop again as she began to look for children's baby teeth. Ivy was thankful that she had developed this skill in her time when she was being chased by spirits after she ran away from the orphanage. While she was running over rooftops, Ivy heard Tooth shouting orders to the others.

"Four bicuspids over there!" exclaimed Tooth as she pointed from one house to another, "An incisor two blocks east! Is that a molar? They're EVERYWHERE!"

Ivy had just jumped onto the edge of a giant billboard before wobbling a little in surprise when she heard and felt something hit the billboard below her. Ivy jump down onto a platform that hung behind the billboard before looking over the top edge and saw Tooth hovering in front of the billboard that, ironically, had a toothpaste sign on it while she held her nose in pain.

"Ow!" exclaimed Tooth.

"That's got to hurt," muttered Ivy as she sensed Jack landing beside her.

"You okay?" Jack asked Tooth.

"I'm fine," answered Tooth before she shook off her pain and quickly flew up to the two teens. "Sorry, it's been a really long time since I've been out in the field."

Baby Tooth and Fayette, who had been flying following their mother, flew up to the two teens as well before Fayette landed on Ivy's right shoulder with a tired look on her face.

"I'm guessing your mother is a little too fast for you huh?" questioned Ivy with a small smile of sympathy on her face.

Fayette nodded her head at Ivy's question before flopping down onto her stomach. Ivy shook her head in amusement before looking at Tooth again.

"So…how long is a long time exactly?" asked Ivy curiously.

Tooth rubbed her right arm as she gave Ivy and Jack an embarrassment smile: "Four hundred forty years…give or take."

Ivy and Jack stared at Tooth either in complete astonishment or shock before the Queen Fairy gasped with an excited smile on her face before flying towards a nearby house with Jack, Ivy, Baby Tooth and Fayette watching Tooth take off. They all turned to look at one another in confusion.

"She really loves teeth doesn't she?" muttered Ivy before she asking the two mini fairies, "Is she always like this?"

Fayette nodded her head, while Baby Tooth only shrugged her shoulders at Ivy and Jack in a way that said 'it can't be helped'. Ivy let out a sigh before looking at Jack.

"Whatever, let's just get back to what we're supposed to be doing," said Ivy.

"You going to participate in this race?" asked Jack with a smirk.

Ivy smirked before answering Jack's question: "Not on your nelly Frost-Boy."

With that said, Ivy took off on the rooftops again with Fayette coming along with her. Jack let out a light chuckle as he shook his head in amusement.

"If she's not careful she'll wind up being like Bunny," voiced Jack before he took off to the next house that had a kid's tooth.

Baby Tooth quickly flew after her mother so she could help her out with collecting teeth.

With Ivy and Fayette

Ivy quietly jumped into a child's room through an open window and walked over to the bed that had a seven year old girl sleeping in it. Ivy looked down at the girl for a moment as a soft smile appeared on the young teen's lips before she carefully reached underneath the child's pillow and pulled out the tooth.

"Huh, a canine," whispered Ivy with a smirk when she saw what kind of tooth she had in her hand. "Who would have guessed that this would be the first tooth that I would collect on this wild adventure?"

Ivy dropped the tooth into a little red bag that Tooth had given her, while Fayette placed a quarter under the child's pillow. The quarter was another thing that Tooth gave Ivy before the group got down to collecting teeth. Tooth gave Ivy a small bag of quarters that the teen now carries around in her right pocket, while Ivy carried an empty back that was meant to hold teeth.

"There," whispered Ivy with a nod before looking at Fayette, "now let's get going."

Fayette chirped in agreement and the two began to make their way to the window. Ivy had only taken a couple of steps before she let out a yelp when the ground suddenly disappeared from underneath her feet. She only fell a short ways before landing on top of something furry, which happened to be Bunny.

"Ow!" echoed Ivy and Bunny.

The teenager and humanoid rabbit groaned in pain for a moment as Fayette quickly flew down into the rabbit hole to see if Ivy was okay. Ivy shook her head to clear it before realizing that she hand landed across Bunny's stomach with the rabbit lying flat on his back. Bunny lifted his head to glare at Ivy as the teenager turned her head to give him a deadpanned look.

"Hello, Long Ears," spoke Ivy in a monotone voice.

Bunny only growled before he grabbed Ivy by the back on her sweater and easily lifted her off of him as he sat up. Bunny sat Ivy down on the ground in front of him before the two of them glared at each other.

"What's the big idea landing on top of me like that, kid?" questioned Bunny in annoyance.

"Well excuse me!" exclaimed Ivy as she crossed her arms over chest while she sat cross legged on the ground. "But I wasn't expecting you to open one of your tunnels beneath my feet after I just got a little kid's tooth from this house."

Bunny looked at Ivy in bemusement: "You already visited this house?"

"Yep," replied Ivy with a nod of her head.

"Great," muttered Bunny as he turned his head to the side angrily.

Ivy smirked for a moment before noticing a bit of frost clinging to the tip of Bunny's left ear. The young teen can only guess that the giant rabbit had an encounter with Jack Frost.

"You and Jack really don't like each other do you Long Ears," said Ivy as her words came out more as a statement then a question.

"We don't," replied Bunny as he turned his head to face Ivy again. "That bloody show pony is always messing with me egg hunts when Easter comes around."

"Well…don't you think that there might be a reason for his actions?" asked Ivy as she stood up front the ground.

"What do you mean?" Bunny shot back as he got up onto his feet and began to dust off the dirt that clung to his fur.

"Well, think about it," started Ivy as she looked Bunny straight in the eye. "Jack's been alone for three hundred years and in those years he didn't have any real friends to talk to. So maybe he pulls these pranks because he wants attention."

Bunny frowned as he thought about what Ivy had said to him. Was Jack really that desperate for attention that he would pull pranks on spirits that hate him just because he was a winter spirit? Bunny felt Ivy touch his arm as he turned to look down at the young teenager.

"Look, I don't know what really happened between you and Jack in the blizzard of 68, but maybe you should trying talking to him. Get his side of the story on what really happened in that year you two first encountered each other." Ivy suggested to Bunny.

Bunny gently nibbled on the bottom of his lip for a moment before answering: "I'll think about it Sheila, after our little competition is over."

"Fine," said Ivy with a nod before looking up at the open rabbit hole hanging above their heads. "Now, how about you give me a boost up so that I can get back to the surface?"

"Why?" asked Bunny.

"So that Fayette and I can get back to our teeth collecting," answered Ivy with a frown.

"Well I hate to break it to you pup, but we Guardians pretty much cleaned out this city of its children's teeth," said Bunny.

Ivy gapped at Bunny for a second before turning away with a huff: "Perfect."

"Ah, buck up Sheila," said Bunny with a smirk. "There are still plenty of other places around the world to gather up kids' teeth."

"Yeah, you're right," sighed Ivy as a small smile appeared on her face.

"That a girl," said Bunny as he surprised Ivy by giving her an affectionate pat on the head before crouching down on all fours. "Let's get going, we have to meet up with the others back at North's sleigh."

Ivy was a little hesitant at first to get on Bunny's back again, but soon sucked it up as she climbed onto the giant rabbit's back before the hole above their heads closed up. Fayette quickly flew over to Bunny and Ivy and landed on the rabbit's furry left shoulder, while tightly gripping onto some of his fur. Once Bunny was sure that his two passengers were secured on his back, the rabbit took off down the tunnel that will lead them back to the meeting place. Ivy held on tight as Bunny ran through the tunnel at top speed, while pressing the side of her face into the fur between Bunny's shoulders. She had to admit that Bunny's fur was pretty soft against her cheek.

' _I guess Long Ears isn't such a bad guy after all,_ ' thought Ivy with a smile. ' _He's just too proud to admit that he's nothing but a big softy._ '

With that thought in mind, Ivy kept quiet throughout the ride back to North's sleigh.

Scene change

The group's next stop was Moscow, Russia where they split up once again to collect the teeth, or in this case for the four boys the most teeth. Ivy managed to collect six baby teeth with Fayette and the teenager had to admit that the mini fairy was a great partner to have around when collecting teeth. Ivy had just collected her seventh tooth and was jumping over rooftops to the next house that had a child's baby tooth when she suddenly heard two familiar voices yelping in surprise in a nearby house not too far away her. Ivy spotted Sandy floating out through an open window of a child's room with a big smirk on his face before quickly flying away on a cloud of sand. Curious about what was going on, Ivy and Fayette made their way over to the window that Sandy had seconds ago came out from. Ivy quietly hopped through the window with ease and what she saw in the child's room made her smirk in amusement. Near the side of a young girl's bed were Bunny and North. The two spirits were stuck in one of Bunny's rabbit holes as they struggled to get themselves out. Ivy would have laughed at the scene if the situation of collecting teeth wasn't so dire to Tooth's existence.

' _Honestly,_ ' thought Ivy with a shake of her head before she walked up to the two rival holiday spirits.

North and Bunny didn't notice Ivy walking up to them, because they were too busy struggling, but they quickly stopped when they suddenly felt two hands on each of their heads. The hands lightly pushed down on their heads before they found themselves falling down into the rabbit hole and landed with a thud. Ivy blew a strand of her hair out of her face in exasperation after the rabbit hole closed in on itself on the wooden floor, but in its place was a yellow buttercup flower. Ivy blinked in surprise before bending down and picking the flower off from its stem. Ivy lifted the flower up to examine it for a moment before placing it, along with one of her quarters, under the child's pillow when she noticed that there wasn't a quarter underneath it.

' _There,_ ' thought Ivy with a nod of her head ' _that should do it._ '

After that was done, Ivy quickly left the room with Fayette flying after her. Once the two girls got about two roofs away from the child's home Ivy let out a sigh.

"I get the feeling that the boys are so into their competition that they're forgetting to leave behind quarters for the kids once they've taken the baby teeth," said Ivy as she looked at Fayette with an amused look on her face.

Fayette nodded her head, while chirping in agreement to Ivy's statement.

"How long do you think it will take them to realize their mistake?"

Fayette shrugged her shoulders showing that she didn't know.

"I'm betting that they'll realize their mistake once Tooth mentions leaving gifts for the kids," said Ivy with a smirk on her face.

Fayette chirped in agreement before the two of them continued on with their teeth collecting.

Scene change

The next city that the group visited was Paris, France and Ivy had to say that the boys' competition was getting a little out of hand. How did she know this? Let's just say that the young girl had found herself getting tangled up in a 'snatch and grab' game between Jack, Sandy and Bunny. Ivy and Fayette had just gotten their 25th tooth with Ivy wearing a proud smile on her face.

"Collecting baby teeth from kids, while leaving a quarter for them is a piece of cake," said Ivy as she flipped the tooth she had taken from underneath boy's pillow up into the air.

As the tooth descended down and was about to land on Ivy's awaiting hand, another hand suddenly shot out and snatched the tooth away from her.

"Hey!" barked Ivy angrily as she glared at the person that stole her tooth.

The culprit that snatched her tooth was none other than Jack Frost as the winter spirit floated in front of her with the tooth pinched between the fingers of his right hand.

"Oh, sorry," mocked Jack with a smirk. "Does this tooth belong to you?"

"Jack, give that tooth back to me right now!" demanded Ivy as she held her right hand out flat towards the winter spirit. "Fayette and I got that tooth first, so it's ours!"

The winter spirit only smirked as he waved the tooth around between his fingers.

"If you want this tooth back then you and Fayette are going to have to catch me!" exclaimed Jack as he switched from pinching the tooth between his fingers to holding it in his hand before bolting as he flew away from Ivy.

Ivy stared at the disappearing form of Jack Frost in disbelief before growling out in anger at what had just transpired.

"Why that little…You get back here Snowball!" shouted Ivy as she began to chase after the winter spirit.

Fayette quickly flew after Ivy and when she was able to catch up with her, the mini fairy grabbed onto Ivy's hair and held on tight. Ivy leapt and jumped from rooftop to rooftop as she chased after the boy that had stolen her tooth.

"When I get my hands on you Frost, you are so dead!" shouted Ivy as she began to slowly catch up with Jack.

"That's big words coming from a teenage wolf-pup!" Jack shot back as he flew backwards to look at Ivy with a smirk on his face.

"Don't call me wolf-pup!" yelled Ivy angrily.

"Would you prefer to be called Spirit Seer then?" teased Jack.

Ivy let out another angry growl as she pushed her legs to go faster: "Give me back my tooth, Snowball!"

"Naw, I think I'll add this tooth to my collection!" responded Jack as he once again pinched the baby tooth between his fingers again and waved it back and forth in a taunting matter.

The game of chase between Ivy and Jack lasted for about five minutes before Sandy suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and snatched the baby tooth that Jack stole from Ivy.

"Hey!" shouted Jack in surprise when he realized that he wasn't holding the tooth anymore.

"Not again," groaned Ivy as she quickly switched directions and began to chase after Sandy instead. "Sandy, you give that tooth back to me or else!"

The only response that Ivy got from the Sandman was him giving Ivy a smirk as he sat on his sand cloud, while waving the tooth he held tightly between his fingers as he taunted Ivy into chasing him like Jack had done.

Ivy let out a growl and began to run faster: "This game of 'Keep-a-way' is really starting to get on my nerves!"

Fayette chirped in agreement as she continued to hold on tight to the strands of Ivy's hair. Ivy chased Sandy for about six minutes before Sandy was suddenly startled in letting go of the tooth when a familiar boomerang flew out of nowhere. Ivy and Fayette let out a gasp of horror when they saw the tooth falling, but the feeling was soon replaced with annoyance when a grey blur suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and snatched the tooth out of midair. The grey blur revealed itself to be none other than Bunny as the rabbit held the tooth between the fingers of his right paw/hand with a smirk of triumph on his face as he stood on a roof that was closest to the roof that Ivy had just jumped onto. Ivy stopped in her tracks as she tried to regain her breath, while Fayette sat herself down on Ivy's left shoulder.

"What is with you guys all of a sudden?" groaned Ivy as she glared at Bunny who stood in front of her.

"Eh?" spoked Bunny as he turned his head to look at Ivy in confusion. "What are ya' talking about Sheila?"

"You guys and your…snatch and grab game!" exclaimed ivy when she finally caught her breath. "Look, that tooth that you're holding there in your hand belongs to me and Fayette. We had it first before Jack snatched it away from us. We then had to chase him around for five minutes since he wouldn't give it back to us, but then the tooth was stolen away from him by Sandy and we had to chase that little man around for six minutes."

Ivy soon let out an exasperating sigh after she explained the situation she had to go through in chasing Jack Frost and the Sandman around Paris, while she had been busy collecting teeth. Ivy was not going to get into another chase around Paris when it came down to the giant rabbit Guardian who was faster than her.

"You know what, forget it!" growled Ivy irritable. "I'm done with this wild goose chase. You can have that stupid tooth for all I care. I've got better things to do then play 'chase the Guardians around Paris' for a single tooth. Come on Fayette let's get going on our own teeth collecting!"

Fayette nodded her head as she sat on Ivy's should, while crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at Bunny in anger. Ivy soon turned away from the Guardian, while letting out a huff before she began running a leaping off the rooftops of Paris.

"Ivy wait!" shouted Bunny.

But Ivy was already too far away to hear him as she continued on with her own tooth collecting. Bunny let out a frustrating sigh before looking down at the tooth that he held in his right paw/hand. A thoughtful look came over the rabbit's face as he began to think on what he should do with the tooth. Should he place it within the bag he was carrying the rest of the teeth he had collected? Or should he hold onto the tooth and give it back to Ivy when they meet up again in their teeth collecting? After a few moments of contemplating, Bunny decided to go with his last decision as he safely placed the tooth in one of the smaller pockets of his holster. Bunny gently patted the pocket with the tooth inside it before he took off across the roofs again, hoping that he would bump into Ivy again. As luck would have it, Ivy and Bunny did meet up again at one of the houses that held a kid's tooth. Ivy and Fayette had just entered the kid's bedroom through an open window when Bunny suddenly appeared out of a rabbit hole that had formed in the middle of the kid's bedroom. Ivy frowned when she saw Bunny and was about to turn around to leave when she was stopped by Bunny gently placing a paw/hand on her left shoulder.

"Kid, wait," whispered Bunny so that he wouldn't wakeup the child.

Ivy turned to face the rabbit with a scowl: "What is it?"

Bunny didn't reply as he only grabbed Ivy's right hand gently with his paw/hand and held the girl's hand palm facing up before lifting up his right paw/hand, which was curled into a fist, and opened it up as something small fell into Ivy's hand. When Ivy looked at what had fallen into her open hand her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the very same tooth that had been stolen from her. Ivy looked up at Bunny in shock before she spoke in a soft voice.

"Y-you're giving this back to me?" asked Ivy.

"Well…yeah," replied Bunny as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "After all, you said it yourself, you and your little partner had if first."

Ivy stared at Bunny in astonishment before a small smile appeared on her face.

"Thanks…Bunny," voiced Ivy.

Bunny blinked in surprise when he heard her speak his real name before smiling at the teenager in front of him.

"You're welcome Ivy," said Bunny as he placed his right paw/hand on top of Ivy's head and began to ruffle it a little bit.

Ivy couldn't help but get a warm feeling deep inside her chest. This was the first time she had ever been touched this way, she had never been patted on the head before when she had been living in the orphanage. Ivy had always wondered what it would feel like to have someone either hug her or pat her on the head. The first pat Bunny gave her back in Shanghai had taken her completely off guard, along with him suddenly grabbing her arm back at Tooth's Palace when he was enraged by what Pitch had said to both her and Jack. Out of all of the Guardians only Bunny, Jack and Fayette were the most willing to get close to her. After Bunny finished ruffling Ivy's hair, the rabbit's ears suddenly shot up on his head before he turned his gaze up towards the ceiling. A smirk appeared on Bunny's face before he hopped towards the fireplace that was setup within the family room just outside of the kid's bedroom. Ivy became curious as to what Bunny was doing and quickly ran over to see what he was up to. Bunny had placed a couple of logs into the fireplace and was now hunched over the logs with a matchstick in his left paw/hand.

"What…are you doing?" asked Ivy with a raised eyebrow.

"Getting back at North for playing a prank on me a couple of houses back," answered Bunny as he looked over his shoulder to glance at Ivy. "Now keep quiet."

Ivy nodded her head before she heard the heavy footsteps of North running across the roof above their heads. She then heard the Guardian of Wonder climbing down the chimney before watching Bunny light the matchstick with a flick of his thumb before he threw it onto the logs. The logs quickly caught fire when the matchstick came into contact with them.

"Ho, ho, ho," Bunny chuckled.

One second later, there was a loud explosion as North let out a shout of pain and surprise before he began to make his way back up the chimney again. Ivy couldn't help herself as she burst out laughing along with Fayette and Bunny.

"T-that was the most hilarious prank that I have ever witnessed in my life!" exclaimed Ivy as she laughed uncontrollably.

"That will teach North not to pull a prank on me," said Bunny with a smirk after he calmed himself down.

Ivy and Fayette soon got control of themselves as they calmed down from their laughter before Ivy let out a sigh.

"Right, now that that's out of the way, we'd better continue on with our teeth collecting," said Ivy.

"Yeah," spoke Bunny in agreement, "just make sure you meet back up with us at the sleigh once you're finished."

"I will," replied Ivy with a nod, "let's get going Fayette."

Fayette chirped in reply as the two of them exited out of the same window that they had sneaked through, while taking the tooth they came to collect from the child's pillow and leaving a quarter behind in the tooth's place.

Scene change

The group was now in New York City as they all stood on one of the roofs of Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Bridge. Jack, Bunny, North and Sandy stood in front of Tooth as they held up their sacks that held the teeth they had collected with proud smiles on their faces. Ivy was standing near Tooth with Fayette and Baby Tooth flying near the teenager's left shoulder.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tooth in amazement, "You guys collect teeth and leave gifts just as fast as my fairies."

The prideful look on the boys' faces fell when Tooth mentioned gifts and realized that they had forgotten to leave something under the kids' pillows. Tooth saw the look on the boys' faces and frowned in worry.

"You guys have been leaving gifts, right?" asked Tooth.

Sandy nodded his head 'yes' enthusiastically before shaking his head 'no' when he realized that they haven't. The boys winched before looking at each other when they realized their mistake. Ivy smirked before she turned to look at Fayette and Baby Tooth.

"Just as I predicted," said Ivy to Fayette. "The boys would soon realize their mistake after Tooth mentions leaving gifts."

"Oh, and you've been leaving gifts?" questioned Jack as he turned to look at Ivy with a frown.

"Yep," replied Ivy with a smirk as she held up the bag filled with quarters from her pocket. "I've been leaving a few quarters under the kids' pillows, courtesy of Tooth who gave the last few remaining quarters from her Tooth Palace to me." Ivy's smirk soon fell from her face as a frown replaced it. "But the problem for me is that I only have about a hand full of quarters left in this bag for about twenty nine houses."

"Then you just have to get more coins," said North enthusiastically.

"And…how do I do that?" questioned Ivy as she raised an eyebrow up at North.

Five minutes later

"Okay, this is something that I would never have thought of doing," muttered Ivy.

Ivy and the four male spirits had gone to the Brooklyn Bridge Coin Laundry to take out some coins. Ivy was standing behind North as she waited for her turn to take out some coins to give to the kids after taking their teeth.

"Well, with you being chased around by spirits all the time, it's no wonder you had to worry about keeping one step ahead and not get caught by them." Jack said with a smirk on his face as he walked past her after he had collected his coins.

"Says the spirit that likes to play pranks on people, while freezing their butts off," voiced Ivy as she rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling of the building.

Jack heard what Ivy had said before using the crooked end of his staff to slap Ivy's butt, while adding a bit of frost to annoy the girl. Ivy let out a yelp of shock as she jumped about a foot into the air before she glared at Jack, who gave her an innocent smile in return.

"I'll get you back for that Jack," warned Ivy with a growl.

"Whatever you say Wolf Girl," Jack chuckled, "By the way, nice tail."

"Huh?" spoke Ivy in confusion before she reached behind her.

Ivy's eyes widened when she grasped something long and fluffy before looking behind her to see a sandy-brown tail growing out from the hipline of her pants. Ivy let out a growl as she turned to glare at Jack, only to find the winter spirit running out the door with a laugh.

' _Ugh, boys!_ ' thought Ivy angrily before looking at her reflection in the glass window.

Ivy saw the familiar face of the wolf that she had seen back at the lagoon of Tooth's home. Ivy frowned when she saw that she had turned into a wolf again before raising her oversized wolf paw/hands up to her head and forced her wolf ears to flatten down on her head. But that method didn't seem to work, because when she drew her hands away from her head, feeling sure that her ears would stay down, they popped right back up again. Ivy groaned as she glared at her reflection within the glass in anger, but her anger soon disappeared when Bunny came up behind her with a frown on his face.

"Getting upset won't help you Shelia," said Bunny.

"I know," grumbled Ivy with a sigh, "But seeing myself like this only reminds me that I'm not normal and that I won't be able to have a family who would want me like this."

"Life is never easy Sheila," spoke Bunny as he gently turned Ivy around to face him before kneeling down to get eyelevel with her. "But you shouldn't give up hope so easily. I'm sure you'll find the right people who would want someone like you as part of their family, no matter what you are. After all, you're kind, selfless and brave when you show your true self to others that you're more comfortable with after getting to know them."

Ivy looked at Bunny in surprise before giving him a small smile. Ivy knew that the humanoid rabbit was only giving her false hope of ever finding a family to call her own, but it was nice to have someone around to comfort her when she was feeling down.

"Thanks Bunny," said Ivy.

Bunny only smiled at her before he began to gently ruffle her hair. Ivy let out a giggle as she began to calm down, while feeling herself change back into her human form once again. After Bunny finished messing around with Ivy's hair, the young girl quickly went to the coin machine to take out some coins after North had finished collecting his own. Bunny had already collected his coins, but stayed behind to wait for Ivy to gather up her own coins before helping her start off on her teeth collecting again. Bunny had to admit that he was getting attached to the fourteen year old girl, because she reminded him of Kiba and what his old wolf friend was like back when he was a pup. Yet, Ivy was unsure about herself and had been alone since she was a baby. The thought of Ivy being alone without a family also reminded Bunny that Jack had been alone for 300 years without anyone looking after him either. The thought about the two teens being neglected of never feeling the love of a family made Bunny feel like he had let the two kids down and that he had abandoned them.

' _Well, I'm going to try and make things right with them,_ ' thought Bunny firmly to himself. ' _I'm not going to leave them alone to fend for themselves ever again._ '

Little did Bunny know was that he wasn't going to be able to keep his promise when it came down to fighting against Pitch.

To be continued


	5. Bedroom chaos and the end of dreams

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Bedroom chaos and the end of dreams

After some backtracking and making sure that they were leaving gifts for the children to find under their pillows in the morning Ivy, Jack and Guardians headed to Burgess to collect the children's teeth from there. Once they got there, they decided to split off to gather the teeth. Ivy had went with Tooth and Jack to one of the kid's houses that held a boy's tooth, while Fayette and her sister, Baby Tooth, went with Sandy and North to help them in their teeth collecting. When Ivy entered through the top windows of a red two story house with Jack helping her by giving her a lift, she turned her gaze to the child sleeping in the bed before recognition came over Ivy's face.

' _Isn't that the boy Jack had taken on that wild sled ride the other day?_ ' thought Ivy with a raised eyebrow.

Tooth and Jack had already gone over to the boy's bed with both of them taking different sides. Tooth was now sitting on the floor as she reached under the pillow to grab the boy's tooth, while Jack was looking at a drawing that was hanging on the wall near the right side of the boy's bed. Ivy started to walk over to where Jack was crouching when she suddenly felt her body go ridged all of a sudden. Ivy quickly turned her head to look at the foot of the boy's bed. Lying on the bed was a white grey hound with brown patches dotting all over its body.

' _Calm down Ivy, the dog's asleep,_ ' thought Ivy to reassure herself before she walked over to where Jack was.

Tooth was examining the boy's tooth that she was now holding in her right hand.

"Left front incisor that was knocked out in a freaked sledding accident" Tooth whispered when she looked through the boy's memories that was locked within the tooth before turning her attention on Jack as she gave the winter spirit a questioning yet knowing look upon her face. "I wonder how that could have happened Jack?"

Jack gave out a small chuckle as he turned away from the drawing to look at Tooth.

"Kids huh," said Jack with a smile.

Ivy rolled her eyes before looking down at the boy with a small smile appearing on her face, while Tooth placed a quarter under the boy's pillow.

"This kid's name is Jamie, right?" asked Ivy as she crouched down by the boy's bedside.

"Yeah," replied Jack as he turned to look at Ivy curiously, "how did you know that?"

"Let's just say that someone had to keep an eye on the kid when you decided to take him on that little high speed joy ride of yours," answered Ivy with a smirk.

Jack rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he turned his gaze up towards the ceiling of the bedroom. Ivy let out a quiet chuckle before she began to sweep her gaze all around the Jamie's room. The boy's room was cluttered with toys, posters, pictures and many other things that any other young ten year old boy, like Jamie, could put in their bedroom. Ivy's eyes soon landed on a picture of Jamie standing in front of a woman, who was his mom, while he held a young two year old girl with long blonde haired and green eyes by the hand.

Another small smile appeared on Ivy's face as she stared at the picture: ' _Jamie's lucky to have a family that loves him very much._ '

"This has always been the part I liked most-seeing the kids," spoke Tooth as she was now hovering over Jamie's bed and looking down at the boy who was sleeping peacefully before her.

Tooth gently rubbed her arms as a frown soon replaced the smile that she had on her face: "Why did I ever stop doing this?"

"It's a bit different up close, huh?" said Jack in soft understanding when he saw how much this means for Tooth.

Ivy stood up, along with Jack, as Tooth turned to look at the winter spirit with a smile.

"Thanks for being here, Jack and Ivy," said Tooth sincerely she gently placed a hand on Jack's shoulder with a sadness coming over her face. "I wish I had known about your memories, I could have helped you."

"Yeah, well, look let's just get you taken care of," spoke Jack with a small smile, "then its Pitch's turn."

"And when we do encounter that creep again, you can have the honor of punching him first," added Ivy with a smirk.

Tooth smiled down at Ivy, while Jack gave the fourteen year old girl a smirk before a familiar voice boomed outside the Jamie's open window.

"Here you are!" exclaimed North as he struggles to squeeze through the window to get into the room with Sandy, Baby Tooth and Fayette following in behind him.

"Shhh!" echoed Ivy and Tooth as they signaled for North to be quiet before the Queen Fairy pointed towards Jamie, who luckily was still asleep.

"Oh," whispered North when he saw the sleeping boy before turning to look at Jack, Ivy and Tooth. "What give's, slowpokes?"

Ivy opened her mouth to reply, but North cut her off as he turned to look at Tooth.

"How you feeling, Toothy?" asked North.

"Believed in," whispered Tooth happily as she flew up to North with a large smile on her face.

"Haha! That's what I want to hear," said North with a smile of his own as Tooth giggle with a nod.

Ivy frowned in annoyance at North cutting her off before crossing her arms over her chest and looking away at the opposite wall of Jamie's bedroom.

' _Oh sure…cut off a girl that was trying to answer a question,_ ' thought Ivy sourly.

Ivy soon heard a familiar shifting of earth and turned her attention towards the source of the sound and saw Bunny appearing from out of his rabbit hole with a grumpy look on his face.

"Oh, I see how it is," grumbled Bunny as he looked around at the Guardians, Ivy and Jack before jumping out of his rabbit hole. "All working together to make sure the rabbit gets last place."

Everyone, minus Jack, shushed Bunny, while the rabbit held up his hands innocently as he looked around at the group in confusion.

"You think I need help to beat a bunny?" challenged Jack as he walked confidently up to Bunny before he pulled out a small bag of teeth from behind his back. "Check it out Peter Cottontail."

Bunny looked unimpressed when he saw Jack's bag of teeth as he gave the winter spirit a raised eyebrow.

"You call that a bag of choppers?" muttered Bunny before a smirk came over his face as he pulled up a much larger bag of teeth up to show Jack. "Now that's…a bag of choppers."

Ivy let out a groan as she rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling before she walked up to Jack and Bunny: "You two are complete and utterly immature boys, you know that?"

"Hey, come on Spirit Seer, what's a little fun without a little competition?" questioned Jack with a smirk on his face.

Ivy was about to open her mouth and shoot back at Jack when North quickly stepped into the conversation as he got between Bunny and Jack.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, this is about Tooth. It's not a competition," spoke North as he told Bunny and Jack the importance of why they were collecting the teeth in the first place.

"Finally, someone with common sense," voiced Ivy with a sigh as Fayette flew up to hover by her left shoulder.

"But…if it was," continued North with a smirk.

"And I spoke too soon," grumbled Ivy before jumping back as North threw down a large sack of teeth on the bedroom floor.

"I win!" exclaimed North with a large grin before letting out a loud cheer while doing a Russian dance for his victory.

But his victory dance was cut short when the sound of a flashlight being turned on caught Ivy's attention before the light of the device was pointed towards North. Everyone quickly turned their attention to the bed and saw that Jamie was now awake.

"Oh no," voiced North fearfully.

"Busted," muttered Ivy as she slapped the palm of her left hand against her forehead.

Jamie let out a gasp when he saw the Guardians standing within his bedroom.

"Santa Clause…" whispered Jami before he pointed his flashlight at Bunny. "The Easter Bunny?" the rabbit let out a nervous laugh before Jamie pointed his flashlight on Sandy. "Sandman…" Sandy had a large grin on his face as he waved at the young boy. Jamie then turned his flashlight towards Tooth as a large smile appeared on his face. "The Tooth Fairy, I knew you'd come!"

"Surprise! We came!" replied Tooth with a nervous giggle.

"Not one of your best comebacks," muttered Ivy before the light of the flashlight was pointed at her.

"Who are you?" asked Jamie with a curious frown upon his face.

Ivy tensed before she began to nervously look around the room: "Me? Well I'm…uh."

"He can see us?" asked Jack in a hopeful voice.

Ivy sadly looked over at Jack along with the Guardians when they heard what the winter spirit had said.

"Most of us," said Bunny with a sad frown.

The hopeful smile on Jack's face dropped when Jamie pointed his flashlight at him, but no shadow came upon the wall. Ivy felt her heart drop into her stomach as she felt Jack's emotion come rolling off of him. Ivy was about to say something when Tooth quickly spoke up to remind the others about Jamie watching them.

"Sshh…you guys, he's still awake!" whispered Tooth.

"Sandy, knock him out!" ordered Bunny quickly.

Sandy did as he was told as he punched his fist into his flat open left hand. Ivy saw that action and quickly realized what the Guardian of Dreams was about to do. Ivy slapped the small man upside the head before giving him a scolding look of anger and disbelief.

"Not that method Goldie!" chided Ivy.

"With the dream sand, you gumby!" scolded Bunny as he rolled his eyes at Sandy.

Suddenly, things turned from bad to worse when the greyhound on Jamie's bed suddenly woke up and began to growl as it glared at Bunny, who tensed up at the sight of the greyhound.

"No stop!" shouted Jamie to the greyhound as he turned off his flashlight, while placing a hand on the dog's back. "That's the Easter Bunny! What are you doing Abby? Down!"

"This…is not good," voiced Ivy as she slowly edged her way towards the other side of the room where the Tooth, North, Sandy, Jack, Fayette and Baby Tooth were standing or flying at a safe distance.

Bunny stayed where he was as he slowly lowered his bag of collected baby teeth to the ground.

"Alright, nobody panic." Bunny said in a clam voice, but Ivy could tell that he was nervous.

"But that's a…um, that's a greyhound." Jack informed Bunny with an amused smirk upon his face as he was obviously enjoying this. "Do you know what greyhounds do to rabbits?"

"I do," voiced Ivy tensely as she kept her eye on the greyhound. "And I don't even wanna know what they do when they chase down wolves."

"I think it's a pretty safe bet he's never met a rabbit like me," said Bunny as he glared at the greyhound in front of him.

Ivy knew where this was going as Bunny began to boast about himself before looking down at Sandy. She saw the dream weaver create a ball of dream sand in his right hand as he held a look of indifference upon his face. Ivy turned to look back at Bunny with a small frown on her face.

' _The ones who try to put up a tough guy act always wind up getting into trouble,_ ' thought Ivy as she continued to listen to Bunny's boasting about how he was different from regular rabbits.

"Six foot one, nerves of steel, master of Tai-Chi and the ancient art of…"

Bunny's rambling was cut off when the loud ringing sound from Jamie's alarm suddenly went off. The loud noise made Ivy cringe before she quickly covered her wolf ears, which had popped out on top of her head when she was startled by the alarm clock, to block out the ringing. The sound of the alarm clock made the greyhound's instincts kick in as Bunny's eyes widen horror.

"Crikey!" cried out Bunny before chaos started to irrupted within Jamie's room

The greyhound began to chase the large rabbit around the room as Bunny jumped and leaped off the walls, bed, desk and floor as the greyhound chased him around in a circle. Sandy was trying to find a clear shot to aim the ball of dream sand at the dog, but it was hard for him to pinpoint his target. Ivy had to keep leaping out of the way to avoid being run over by Bunny and the greyhound, while the others, minus Jack, shouted and panicked at what was taking place within Jamie's bedroom. Jack had jumped onto a small dresser as he watched the scene play out before him with a large smile on his face. Ivy noticed this as she stopped jumping around to glare at the immortal teenager before shouting at him.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this chaos you ice imp!" yelled Ivy before she quickly ducked when Bunny suddenly jumped over her head.

In the midst of the chaos, Sandy lost his hold on his dream sand ball when the greyhound leapt onto him. The first person the ball of dream sand hit was Tooth, along with Fayette and Baby Tooth, but before Tooth had been hit she managed to get a word in.

"This is not proper Tooth Fairy behavior!" Ivy heard Tooth shout before watching the Queen Fairy and her two daughters fall to the bedroom floor out cold.

Ivy stared at the fairies in confusion as golden sand images appeared over their heads before frowning when the images took on the form of teeth circling above their heads.

' _Oh brother, even when she's asleep she still thinks about teeth,_ ' thought Ivy before she turned her attention back onto the male members of the group.

She saw the greyhound struggling to get off of Sandy to continue chasing Bunny around the room with the rabbit pausing to get a word in.

"This thing's rabid!" shouted Bunny as he pointed at the greyhound before he continued to run around the room with the greyhound hot on his heels. "Get this dingo off me!"

The ball of dream sand bounced off one of the pictures within Jamie's room before it collided with Bunny's face as the rabbit got a whiff of dream sand up his nose.

"Oh no," spoke Bunny before he dropped to the floor near Jamie's bed.

They greyhound soon followed as it crashed to the ground after Bunny. Images of carrots floated around Bunny's head, while doggie biscuits floated around the greyhounds head. North was about to jump out of Jamie's window to dodge the dream sand, but he was a second too late as he was hit in the back of the head.

"Candy canes," said North in a dazed voice as he pointed to one of the golden candy canes circling around his head.

North then fell backwards onto Jamie's bed and in the process launched the boy up into the air. Ivy nearly had a panic attack when she saw Jamie flying through the air before letting out a sigh of relief when Sandy caught Jamie.

"Thank the stars," breathed Ivy.

Ivy's relief was short lived when she was suddenly hit in the head by the remains of the ball of dream sand. Ivy began to feel drowsy before she began to fall down towards the bedroom floor with a *thud* and that was when her world went dark. As Ivy began to feel herself being pulled towards the world of dreams a voice suddenly spoke. It was a female voice which held warmth and a gentleness to it that made Ivy feel safe as it spoke to her.

" _My daughter, always remember that even in the darkness a light will always guide you on the path you walk on._ "

After that, Ivy knew no more as she slipped deeper into the depths of her dreams.

Dream scene

 _Darkness…that was the first thing Ivy saw when she opened her eyes, but that soon changed as the darkness disappeared and Ivy soon found herself floating in midair, high above Burgess at night._

 _"Wh-what's going on here? Why am I floating so high above the city?" spoke Ivy to herself._

 _Suddenly, Ivy heard the crowing of a raven and she quickly turned around to find the bird flying towards her. The raven was black as night and it had crimson red eyes that could pierce deep into anyone's soul if they dared to look straight into them._

 _Ivy side stepped to the side on instinct when the raven flew past her. Ivy kept her eyes on the bird as it tilted upwards and flew higher up into the sky. Ivy's eyes turned away from the bird when she spotted a large cloud of black sand circling around a small golden light that was trapped in the center. Ivy narrowed her eyes on the golden dot before they widened in terror and recognition._

 _"Sandy!" gasped Ivy fearfully._

 _Ivy then spotted the dark figure of Pitch standing on a cloud of black sand outside of the black sand ring his Nightmares had created around Sandy. Pitch formed an arrow made of his dark sand and pulled his left arm back as if he was pulling back the string of an archery bow. Ivy quickly realized what was going to happen and turned her attention back on Sandy._

 _"Sandy, look out!" shouted Ivy._

 _But the Sandman didn't seem to hear her and in a split second, Pitch fired the arrow at Sandy's turned back. The arrow flew at high speed, straight towards its target and pierced Sandy between the shoulders. Ivy stared in horror as she felt her heart stop beating in her chest for a second at what had just occurred before her eyes._

 _"No…" Ivy whispered before she shouted out at the top of her lungs, "SANDY!"_

Dream scene ended

"SANDY!" shouted Ivy as she shot up with her eyes wide awake in fear.

Ivy quickly calmed down when she realized that she was in North's sleigh again instead of in Jamie's bedroom. The sleigh was flying through Burgess at a wild and uncontrollable speed with North standing at the front, steering it would seem, with Tooth leaning over his right arm.

"What the…" started Ivy before she let out a yelp when the sleigh suddenly bumped into something.

The jolt also seemed to have startled North awake as he shot up with a cry and accidently threw Tooth into the back of the sleigh where Bunny was sleeping on one of the seats, while Ivy sat on the floor of the sleigh. Ivy quickly ducked out of the way before Tooth accidently landed on her. Bunny quickly woke up as he shot up from his seat and began to punch wildly at the air in front of him.

"Get out of my warren!" shouted Bunny before he looked around in confusion, "What are you…eh?"

"Good morning to you too," said Ivy in a sarcastic voice.

Tooth also woke up in confusion before she looked over the side of the sleigh and what she saw made her gasped. Ivy quickly looked over the side of the sleigh as well and what she saw was Sandy and Jack being surrounded by Pitch's Nightmares with Pitch riding on one of them. Sandy was fighting off the Nightmares with his sand whips, while Jack was shooting frost at any that got too close to him.

"Sandy, get Jack and yourself out of there now!" shouted Ivy.

Sandy, who heard Ivy shout at him, quickly did what the girl told him and grabbed the back of Jack's hood before shooting up into the air with a large number of Nightmares following close behind him. Ivy quickly turned to the other three Guardians with a serious look etched on her face.

"We've got to get down there and help them!" exclaimed Ivy.

"Say no more," said North "Hang on!"

Gripping the reins tightly within his hands North steered the reindeer towards Jack and Sandy. Sandy had let go of Jack's hood as he continued to fly upwards, while Jack fought off the Nightmares that were attacking him. Tooth quickly flew out of the sleigh and went to help Jack out as she cut the Nightmares down with her sharp edged wings. Bunny had leaped out of the sleigh and landed on one of the rooftops where he began to take out as many Nightmares as he can with his boomerangs. North drove the sleigh around to pick up Bunny again when a Nightmare suddenly came charging towards them. Ivy saw that the Nightmare was heading towards her before suddenly on instinct she slashed her right arm out in from of her. Ivy blinked in shock and surprise as she watched the Nightmare disintegrated into black sand in front of her.

"What the…?" started Ivy in a soft voice.

Ivy quickly looked down at her right hand and what she saw caught her off guard. The nails at her finger tips had turned into sharp claws.

"Okay, that's new," muttered Ivy.

"At least you got something to defend yourself against Pitch's Nightmares," spoke Bunny after he had jumped back into the sleigh.

"I guess being a Ōkami has its advantages," admitted Ivy with a small smile as she turned to look at Bunny while giving him a shrug.

North had drawn his two swords out from their sheaths as he hopped onto the front edge of his sleigh and began to strike down the Nightmares, while Bunny threw his boomerangs at the Nightmares as well. Ivy helped out a little by slashing her newly required claws at the Nightmares that got to close to North's sleigh, but she quickly stopped her assault on the Nightmares when she noticed something falling from the sky.

"Jack!" shouted Ivy when she recognized the falling figure.

Jack had lost his grip on his staff, but he quickly grabbed hold of it again. Jack then landed on the right wing of the sleigh where he came face to face with Ivy, who was looking at him with a smile of relief. Bunny turned around to look at Jack as well before glancing at something behind the winter spirit.

"You might wanna duck," advised Bunny.

Jack and Ivy looked at Bunny in confusion for a second before they turned their heads to see a Nightmare charging towards them, but it was quickly taken care of as Nightmare was destroyed by one of Bunny's boomerangs. Ivy and Jack quickly ducked as the boomerang flew over their heads before it was caught by Bunny's left paw/hand. Bunny lowered his arm as he gave Ivy and Jack a smirk. Ivy playfully rolled her eyes as she smirked back at the rabbit.

"Show off," muttered Ivy before realizing that Sandy wasn't with them. "Where's the Sandman?"

"Up there!" exclaimed Jack as he pointed with his staff towards where Sandy was.

Ivy quickly turned her gaze upwards and what she saw made her gasp in horror. Sandy was surrounded on all sides by Nightmares that were circling around him.

' _Just like in my dream,_ ' thought Ivy fearfully.

"We gotta help Sandy!" exclaimed Jack.

North, who was now back in the driver's seat, didn't waste any time in cracking the reins to make his six reindeers fly faster as he steered them towards where Sandy was. Ivy could feel her heart pounding hard within her chest as she prayed desperately within her head that they would make it to Sandy in time. Ivy then caught sight of Pitch standing on a cloud of black sand with a black arrow pointed towards Sandy. Sandy had his back turned towards Pitch as he cracked his golden sand whips at the Nightmares that were surrounding him.

"SANDY, LOOK OUT!" shouted Ivy to the dream weaver.

Ivy's warning came out too late as Pitch released the arrow of black sand upon the Guardian of dreams. The arrow flew straight towards its target before it pierced Sandy right in between the shoulders. Ivy's felt her heart stop for a moment as she began to feel it shatter into a million pieces at what she had just witnessed with her own eyes.

"No!" screamed Jack before he shot off towards Sandy to help him.

"Jack!" shouted North.

"Jack, no!" yelled Ivy as she watched the winter spirit fly as fast as he could towards Sandy.

Tooth also flew out of the sleigh and was about to go help Jack, but was stopped by a group of Nightmares that suddenly started to circle around her and North's sleigh. The sleigh rocked back and forth as North tried to keep it steady.

"Hurry, hurry Jack!" yelled North to the winter spirit.

Ivy held on tightly to the left side of the sleigh as she tried to keep herself balanced, but was soon thrown backwards as she fell down onto the wooden floor of the sleigh. Ivy slowly sat up and shook her head to clear it before she let out a growl of anger.

"That's it!" exclaimed Ivy as she got up into a crouch, "I've had enough of these shadow ponies!"

Then, without even knowing it, Ivy jumped ten feet up into the air above the sleigh with a few Nightmares following after her. When the Nightmares had gotten about three feet to their target, Ivy's eyes began to glow a bright blue before she raised her right arm up and brought it down in a blur.

"Stop getting in the WAY!" screamed Ivy as millions of crescent blades made of white light appeared from out of thin air.

The crescent blades spun towards their targets before slashing through the Nightmares that dared to come after Ivy. The Nightmares disintegrated after being hit by the crescent blades of light before Ivy descended from the air and landing gracefully on her feet in North's sleigh. Ivy's eyes changed back to their normal blue-grey color before she began to feel herself tip sideways. Ivy soon found herself falling towards the ground, but her fall was cut short when two strong arms quickly caught her. Ivy looked up and saw that Bunny was the one who had caught her before he slowly helped her to sit down on the floor of the sleigh.

"Thanks," spoked Ivy in an exhausted voice.

"I got you Sheila," said Bunny gently.

Ivy only smiled up at Bunny before she turned her eyes up to where Sandy was and what she saw made her blood freeze within her veins. The dream weaver's body had begun to slowly change from gold to black before he finally fell apart and became part of Pitch's Nightmare sand.

"Sandy…" whispered North sadly.

"No," voiced Ivy as she felt tears begin to form within her eyes.

Ivy heard Jack yelling in rage before he began to fly straight towards Pitch, but the winter spirit never even got close to the Shadow Man. Pitch instantly summoned a large wave of Nightmares behind him before they began to charge straight towards Jack. Ivy and the Guardians could only watch helplessly as the Nightmares engulfed Jack in a sea of black sand. For a tense second everyone was quiet, but the silence was quickly shattered when a loud booming sound suddenly filled the air before a bright blue light burst through the black sand. Then the Nightmares drew back as they revealed Jack glowing within the intense light that was surrounding him before he shot out a powerful blast of ice at the Nightmares, instantly freezing them before the sand and ice exploded. The aftershock of the explosion sent Jack and Pitch flying backwards with Jack being knocked unconscious after his power surge as he began to fall like a rock in midair.

"Jack!" shouted North.

"Tooth, grab him!" exclaimed Ivy.

"On it!" exclaimed Tooth as she quickly flew straight towards Jack before catching the young winter spirit.

Tooth quickly flew back to the sleigh and landed in it as she gently placed Jack on the seats. Jack slowly regained consciousness as he began to sit up on the seat he was set upon.

"Are you okay Snowball?" asked Ivy in worry.

"I-I think so," replied Jack with a groan.

"Jack, h-how did you do that?" asked Tooth in curiously.

Jack stared at Tooth with a bewildered look upon his face before answering: "I didn't know I could."

"Join the club," muttered Ivy as she looked down at her now normal human nails.

As Ivy looked down at her hands the image of what had happened to Sandy began to play out within her head.

' _It was just like what had happened in my dream,_ ' thought Ivy as she slowly clenched her hands into fists, while tears started to build up within her eyes. ' _I wasn't able to help him. I wasn't able to…_ '

Ivy began to feel the tears run down her face before shutting her eyes tightly to try and stop them, but that only made more appear. Ivy began to curl in on herself for a moment before Bunny gently wrapped his arms around her pulled her close to his furry chest. Ivy was surprised for a moment before she buried her face into Bunny's chest to hide the tears that were running down her face, while the Guardian gently rubbed his left paw/hand up and down on the young teen's back to comfort her. Nothing more was said within the sleigh as North summoned a portal with one of his snow globes as they all headed back to the North Pole to regroup and to think up a new strategy.

To be continued


	6. Arguments, comfort and Sandy's funeral

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Arguments, comfort and funeral

The ride back to North's home was a quiet one as Ivy, Jack and the Guardians were lost in their own thoughts on what had just happened back in Burgess. Ivy was sitting quietly in the back seat of the sleigh as she leaned against Bunny for warmth, while the Guardian had his arm draped over Ivy's shoulders with a solemn look upon his face. Jack had pulled his hood up to hide his face, while he held his staff close to his chest. Tooth sat up front with North as she placed a gentle hand on the bigger man's arm in comfort, either for him, herself or both. The silence was interrupted by two chirping voices that came from North's right coat pocket before Baby Tooth and Fayette flew out and began to look around in confusion. Fayette was the first one to get her senses back together when she saw Ivy sitting sadly in the back of the sleigh with Jack and Bunny. Baby Tooth also noticed the sad trio too before she and her sister quickly flew over to their two respective friends. Fayette lightly landed on Ivy's left shoulder before letting out a concerned chirp, which seemed to get Ivy's attention as the young teenager turned her head to look at the Mini Fairy.

"Hey Fayette," whispered Ivy as a small smile appeared on her face.

Fayette smiled back at Ivy before looking around within the sleigh when she noticed that Sandy wasn't with them. Ivy noticed this as her smile was replaced with a sad frown before she gently took Fayette off her shoulder. Ivy held Fayette in the palm of her hand as the Mini Fairy looked up at her in confusion when the she saw the young teenager's face filled with sadness.

"Fayette…" Ivy started before gulping down the lump that was forming in her throat. "Sandy… Sandy's not here with us anymore."

Fayette stared long and hard at Ivy as she tried to process what the young teen was trying to tell her.

Ivy took in a deep breath before she finally told the little fairy: "Sandy was…KIA."

Fayette's eyes widened in horror at what Ivy had just said when she took a second to understand what KIA meant. Fayette darted back to Ivy's left shoulder and curled herself against the young teen's neck, either to comfort Ivy or to cry against the young teen's neck. Ivy had a feeling that is was probably both and decided to let the Mini Fairy be as she leaned more into Bunny as she tried to keep herself warm as the bitter cold wind blew against her. Bunny's arm tightened slightly around Ivy as he looked down at the young girl that leaned against him. Bunny knew that Ivy was taking it pretty hard for it was the girl's first time in seeing someone die before her eyes. Bunny then glanced over at Jack and saw the winter spirit curl into himself as Baby Tooth tried to comfort him as she sat on his shoulder. Jack was taking it the worst out of all of them, because he was the one that had tried to save Sandy when Pitch had shot the Dream Weaver with his black arrow of Nightmare sand.

' _This is not something that these two should experience,_ ' thought Bunny as he looked down at Ivy once again. ' _Jack maybe 300 years old, but he's still a kid in spirit terms and Ivy is only fourteen, she hasn't experienced death until now. Why did Manny have to choose these two kids to us help fight against Pitch?_ '

They soon arrived at North's Workshop as the sleigh landed within the ice cavern. North was the first one out of the sleigh followed by Tooth, the two Mini Fairies and Jack, but Ivy was hesitant to move from her spot within the sleigh. She was suddenly taken by surprise when she felt Bunny gather her up into his arms and carried her out of the sleigh. Ivy was a little shocked by this sudden act for a moment, but soon relaxed as she leaned her head against Bunny's furry chest and let her eyes close as exhaustion from the events of her evening with the Guardians finally took its hold of her. Bunny looked down at Ivy with a sad smile upon his face.

"Looks like all that running about and fighting Pitch's Nightmares had really tuckered you out, huh Sheila," voiced Bunny quietly with a chuckle.

"Well can you blame her?" questioned Jack when he and the other two Guardians turned to see Ivy falling asleep in Bunny's arms. "She is still just a kid after all."

"Poor thing," whispered Tooth as she flew over to Bunny and gently petted Ivy's forehead.

Ivy responded with a light moan as she seemed to lean into Tooth's touch, while her cheek brushed up against the fur of Bunny's chest. Bunny smiled gently down at the young girl he held in his arms as he was reminded how he use to hold one of his siblings back in the Golden Days when there had been Pookas still alive.

"Bunny, take Ivy to one of the guest rooms," spoke North in a low voice so as not to wake Ivy up. "Then meet us within the globe room. I need to tell the yetis to gather up everyone within the factory to prepare Sandy's funeral."

"You've got it mate," voiced Bunny before he began to walk through the large wooden doors that will lead him into the main part of the building of North's home.

Scene change

When Ivy first started to wake she became aware of a warm and heavy weight lying on top of her before she slowly opened her eyes. Ivy blinked in confusion for a moment when she felt her face press up against something soft and cushiony. Ivy sat up and found herself sitting on a king size bed with white bedcovers, large pillows and a light green quilt. Ivy looked around the room in confusion as she wondered where she was. The room was large with a wooden chair, an oak dresser, a large full body mirror that hung on the wall on Ivy's right and a wooden bedroom desk standing near the bed on Ivy's left. The stone floor was covered by a red carpet with gold trimmings. On the left side of the room was a large window that showed the great northern artic of the North Pole.

"How did I…get here?" voiced Ivy in soft voice before she heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me Ivy, Bunny," answered the person on the other side of the door before he opened the door and entered the room.

"Oh…hey Bunny," greeted Ivy as she pushed the covers off of her.

"Hey," spoke Bunny as he walked up to the bed that Ivy was in with a large red apple in his right paw/hand. "I thought that you might be hungry after you woke up so I brought ya' an apple to tie yourself over for a while."

"Thanks," said Ivy with a grateful smile on her face as Bunny sat down on the edge of the bed and handed the apple to her.

Ivy gently grabbed the apple from Bunny and took a small bite out of the fruit. She couldn't help, but let out a moan of satisfaction when she tasted the sweet juices of the apple. Ivy hadn't tasted this kind of sweetness in a long while when she had ran away from the orphanage.

"This is so good!" exclaimed Ivy after she swallowed the piece that she had been chewing on.

"I'd bet that it's been a long time since you've had something decent to eat, yeah?" asked Bunny with a small smirk.

Ivy nodded her head at Bunny's question before she took a larger bite out of her apple. Bunny watched Ivy tear into the apple as she at the fruit all the way down to its seeds and stem. Bunny took the seeds that Ivy had handed over to him. Bunny placed the seeds into one of the smaller pockets of his holster so that he could plant them in his home later.

"So…how're you doing?" asked Bunny in his hesitation.

Ivy didn't speak for a moment as she looked down at her hands that rested in her lap.

"Not so good," replied Ivy with a shake of her head. "I keep wishing that it was all just one big nightmare and that Sandy was still here with us."

"We all wish that Sheila," muttered Bunny with a sigh, "but what happened, happened Ivy and we just have to accept it."

Ivy only nodded her head: "I may have not known Sandy as long as you and the others have, but I could tell that he was a really great guy to hang around with."

Bunny only nodded his head as he turned his gaze down to the rug covered floor. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence as Ivy and Bunny were pulled into their own thoughts as they began to think about the events that had happened to them over the short amount of time. Everything had happened so fast that it was hard for them to swallow it all. Ivy was the first one to break the silence as she asked Bunny a question that had been poking around in her head for a while.

"Bunny, did you know anyone within the Okami Clan that had…dreams that predict the future?" asked Ivy in a nervous voice.

"Yeah," replied Bunny as he looked at Ivy in befuddlement, "but the only ones that I knew who had that kind of ability were Kiba and the members of his family. Why do you ask?"

Ivy swallowed nervously before she spoke: "W-well…after I was hit by Sandy's dreamsand, I-I had a dream and it wasn't a pleasant dream at that."

"What do you mean?" asked Bunny with a frown.

"W-what I'm trying to say is…" started Ivy as she began to feel her voice tremble before she quickly gathered up her courage. "I had a dream that Sandy had been shot by Pitch's arrow!"

Bunny's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief as he stared down at Ivy as the young teenager looked up at him with a frightened look upon her face.

"Y-you had a dream that Sandy was in danger?" questioned Bunny.

"Yes," replied Ivy in a small voice.

"W-why didn't you tell me and the others this when we were fighting Pitch?" asked Bunny as his voice began to grow in volume.

"I didn't know that my dream could have been a vision of the future," replied Ivy honestly. "I just thought it was a bad dream. I didn't know that it would come true in such a short amount of time."

Bunny let out a groan of frustration as he stood up from the bed and began to pace around the room.

"This is just great," grumbled Bunny. "You could have said something sooner to us so that we could have prevented Sandy's death."

Ivy flinched when she heard what Bunny had said and began to feel her blood boil in anger. Ivy clenched her hands around the sheets as she glared at Bunny.

"Oh, so what you're saying is that I'm the one to blame for Sandy's death now, huh?" questioned Ivy.

Bunny stopped in his pacing as he turned to glare at Ivy: "Well if you had said that you had a dream vision about Sandy dying then we could have saved him and he would still be here with us!"

"Well it would have been kind of hard to tell you guys about what I dreamed about when we were fighting off Pitch's Nightmares!" yelled Ivy as her anger began to reach its peak.

"It doesn't matter now!" shouted Bunny, "Sandy's gone and now Pitch has the upper hand again all because you were too out of it within the battle to tell us!"

The last of Ivy's nerves snapped and then, before she knew what she was doing, Ivy jumped out of the bed and flew straight at Bunny with a snarl. Bunny was slightly taken off guard with Ivy pouncing on him, but he quickly responded by raising his arm up to block Ivy. Ivy was on top of Bunny for a second before she was pushed off by the rabbit's back legs and landed on the floor with a thud. Ivy quickly shook herself to get her senses back together before standing back up with a growl, but when Ivy stood up the growl within her throat stopped. Ivy took notice that her body was lower to the ground and that she was standing on four legs instead of two. She looked down to see that instead of hands, she had paws. Ivy's eyes widened in shock before she quickly turned her head towards the mirror and what she saw made her freeze when she saw her reflection. Staring straight back at Ivy was a young wolf that looked to be ten months old.

The wolf had sandy brown fur and blue eyes that were slightly darker than Ivy's original gray-blue eyes. There was white fur running down from the wolf's chest all the way down to its stomach before ending underneath its tail. On the wolf's forehead was a white diamond shaped star marking.

Ivy's breathing began to quicken as she stared at her reflection for a moment before turning her attention on Bunny as he stood up and was glaring at Ivy with a challenging look upon his face. Ivy began to shake when she realized what she had almost did when she attacked Bunny and that thought made Ivy dart back to the bed. She quickly hid underneath the bedcovers and curled up within them as she shook with the shock of realization coursing through her. Bunny was taken back by Ivy's sudden change of attitude before he slowly walked over the bed. The only thing that Bunny saw of Ivy was her tail, while hearing the muffled sobs and whimpers underneath the blanket.

"Ivy?" asked Bunny softly.

"Leave me alone," spoke Ivy quietly underneath the covers.

Bunny felt his heart twinge inside his chest when he heard what Ivy told him to do as his ears dropped down to the back of his head.

"Ivy…" started Bunny before he paused for a second until he continued on with his sentence. "I'm sorry Sheila, I didn't mean to get ya' upset."

"N-no, you're right," muttered Ivy under the covers. "It's all my fault. I should have been quicker in telling you and the other Guardians that I had a dream about Sandy's death then he would still be alive."

Bunny let out a sad sigh as he slowly sat down on the edge of the bed: "Yeah, but it wasn't right of me to blame ya' Sheila and…I'm sorry, okay?"

Ivy didn't speak for a moment, but when she did it was in a broken voice: "I didn't ask for this you know. I never asked to be a werewolf with stupid powers, like seeing spirits, summoning wind blades made of light out of thin air or these dream visions. All I wanted was to be a normal girl and have a family who would love me. Why did my life have to turn so complicated?"

"Life is never easy Ivy," spoke Bunny as he gently placed his left paw/hand on Ivy's back that was hidden underneath the blanket. "Believe me kid, I know what it's like to be alone."

Ivy was silent for a second when she heard what Bunny had said to her before she began to shift around under the covers for a bit with Bunny lifting his paw hand up in the process. Ivy's tail disappeared under the blankets before being replaced by her wolf head as she peaked out to look up at Bunny in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ivy with a raised eyebrow. "Haven't you and the other Guardians have always been together."

"Not in the beginning," answered Bunny with a sad smile. "You see…a long time ago, before I'd met North, Tooth and Sandy I was living happily with my old tribe."

"A tribe of rabbits that are all six foot one, masters of Tai-Chi and the-"

Bunny cut Ivy off with a frim, but playful glare and Ivy quickly became quiet as she gave the large rabbit a sheepish smile.

"You know, after meeting you and getting to know you for only a short time I can see that you're going to be a cheeky little ankle-biter." Bunny stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Ivy let out a nervous laugh before quickly ducking her head back underneath the covers in embarrassment with only her nose poking out. Bunny smirked in amusement before he grabbed the cover and threw them off to bring Ivy into full view.

"Now, how can I tell my story to ya' if you keep ducking out of me sight?" questioned Bunny in a joking voice.

"Sorry," said Ivy with a small smile.

Bunny only gave the young wolf a soft smile before he continued: "My people were warriors, yeah, but mostly we were a peaceful tribe that lived the good life with our friends and families. We never had to worry about anything until…"

Ivy saw the smile on Bunny's face disappear and was replaced with a sad frown. Ivy could sense that something terrible must have happened to Bunny a long time ago to make him feel depressed. Slowly, Ivy crawled over to Bunny and gently laid her head down on the rabbit's furry lap in an effort to comfort him. Bunny's ears shot up in surprise as he looked down at Ivy in astonishment for a moment before he smiled and began to gently stroke the wolf pup's head. Ivy let out a sigh of relaxation as she let Bunny pet her before the Guardian began to speak again.

"My tribe was attacked by Pitch and his army of Fearlings. They took us off guard when we were not expecting it and they took us down one-by-one. Some of my tribe mates fell in battle, while others were killed without mercy. It was hell pup, and I still have nightmares about it whenever I close my eyes."

Ivy began to feel Bunny shake underneath her before she looked up at the Guardian with sympathy shining within her eyes.

"I somehow survived the massacre of my people," continued Bunny with a hard look upon his face. "I accidently fell into one of the deeper holes that led to one of the burrows within our warren, while knocking me head against something hard in the process. When I came too I climbed out of the hole I had been trapped in and what I saw when I came out…"

Bunny trailed off as he closed his eyes tightly and began to shake even more violently. Ivy quickly got up into a sitting position and began to gently nuzzle her head against Bunny's fur covered chest.

"You don't have to keep going Bunny," said Ivy gently. "You don't need to force yourself."

Bunny opened his eyes to look down at Ivy for a moment before he wrapped his arms around the young wolf and held her in a tight, but gentle, hug. Ivy was taken by surprise by the sudden action for a second, but soon relaxed into the embrace with a small smile appearing on her muzzle. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Bunny spoke up.

"It happened centuries ago kid," whispered Bunny. "I was a young buck, who happened to be the eldest brother among my brothers and sisters."

"It must have been really hard for you," voiced Ivy as she continued to nuzzle against Bunny's chest to comfort him. "But at least you're not alone anymore. You have North and Tooth with you now."

Bunny only nodded his head before he pulled away to look down at Ivy again: "You know, you're the first one that I've ever told my life's story to. I'm guessing that you kind of have a positive effect on people to let them open up to you."

"Kind of," responded Ivy with a chuckle. "I just talk to people a little to see what's bothering them and they tell me what their problem is, while letting out the emotions that they kept bottled up inside of them. It's as if…I don't know, but it feels like I'm helping them in getting them to let go of their fears and giving them courage to talk to me as if they know that they can trust me with their secrets. While in the process, helping them in finding some way to be stronger and to believe in themselves."

Bunny hummed in thought as he began to think over what Ivy had just told him before deciding to file the thought away for later.

"Right then," said Bunny as he stood up from the bed. "North wants us to gather in the Globe Room in a few minutes so you'd better change back to your human form."

"Okay," said Ivy with a nod.

"I'll be waiting for you outside," added Bunny as he turned towards the door and was about to leave before he turned around to look at Ivy again. "Also, before I forget, North left you a little something on the foot of your bed."

With that said Bunny opened the door and walked out into the hallway, while closing the door behind him. Ivy stared at the door in confusion as she processed the information that Bunny had given her.

' _North gave me something?_ ' thought Ivy to herself before she let out a soft chuckle. ' _It's far too early to be giving me Christmas gifts. Oh well, better see what it is._ '

Ivy closed her eyes and began to concentrate on changing back into her human form. Ivy opened her eyes a few seconds later after feeling herself change back into her human form before looking down at her human body to make sure that she had done the change correctly. When she did what she saw made her yelp in shock and surprise. Ivy saw that she wasn't wearing any of her clothes that she had worn her whole year at the orphanage and three weeks on the streets, Ivy was as naked as the day she was born. Ivy quickly covered herself up with the blankets as a blush of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks.

' _What happened to my clothing?!'_ exclaimed Ivy inside her head before she began to look around for her missing clothes.

Ivy soon caught sight of a dark green torn up cloth laying on the bed and looked down to see that her sweater, T-shirt, pants and shoes had all been reduced to nothing but shreds.

' _Well that's just perfect,_ ' thought Ivy angrily. ' _I can't show myself to the Guardians and Jack without any clothes on!_ '

Ivy let out a frustrating sigh before she remembered the present that North had left for her. Ivy quickly turned towards the end of the bed and saw a light green Christmas package with a candy stripped ribbon tied around it. The package was slightly flat and about medium size. Ivy grabbed the package and began to tear it open to see what was inside it. When the wrapping was cleared away, Ivy let out a surprise gasp at what she saw and a large smile appeared on her face.

' _North, you're a life saver!_ ' thought Ivy joyfully within her head.

A few seconds later

Bunny was waiting outside within the hallway next to the guest room's door for Ivy to come out. He was leaning against the wooden railing as he stared patiently at the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

' _I wonder what's taking the kid so long?_ ' thought Bunny to himself.

Suddenly, as if answering his question, the door to the guest room opened to reveal Ivy in newer and cleaner clothing. Ivy was wearing a medieval sliver/white tunic with a wide open collar that had a golden edge trimming on it along with the sleeves and bottom edge of the tunic. Underneath the tunic was a cream colored short sleeved shirt with a white edged collar. Ivy was also wearing light brown leggings and dark brown flat boots. Around Ivy's waist was a golden-brown sash that had golden embroidery of vines and leaves on it. Ivy's face was still a bit dirty and her hair still tangled, but other than that Ivy looked like she was ready to face Pitch again.

Bunny let out a whistle: "Looking good there Sheila."

"Thanks," said Ivy with a blush. "My old clothing got torn up after I transformed into my full wolf form."

"Yeah, that was a problem for the Okami Clan a long time ago," said Bunny as he pushed himself away from the railing and began to walk down the hallway with Ivy following right beside him. "Ya' see. Whenever they shift into their full wolf forms their clothing tended to, well…"

"Get torn apart," finished Ivy with a smirk.

Bunny let out a light chuckle: "Took the words right out of my mouth kid."

Ivy smiled before a frown appeared on her face as she spoke: "Sorry about losing my cool and almost biting off your head."

"I probably deserve it," said Bunny as he scratched the back of his head. "But I should be glad that you had changed into your smaller wolf form and not your bigger one."

"What do you mean 'smaller wolf form'? Are you saying that my wolf form can range from smaller to bigger size?" questioned Ivy.

"Yeah," replied Bunny with a nod. "The Okami Clan can change their sizes from being a regular sized wolf to the size of a horse or truck, but the ones who always got bigger were Kiba and his family."

"Really, how big did they get?" asked Ivy with interest.

"To the size of a two story house mate," replied Bunny. "And the reason for that was because they were the alphas of the Okami Clan."

"Wow," voiced Ivy in amazement. "I bet that their enemies shook in terror when they saw how big the alphas grew to be."

"Oh, believe me kid, they did," said Bunny with a chuckle.

"So…getting back to clothing ripping apart, wouldn't the clothes that North gave me wind up being torn apart as well if I accidently changed into my wolf form again?"

"No, you see North and Kiba's dad had come up with a way to create special clothing for the Okami Clan to wear that wouldn't get torn up when they go through their transformation. By plucking a few strands of fur from the alpha male and his mate, along with a bit of magic from me, the other Guardians and the man in the moon, the clothing that you are wearing now will change with you by becoming part of your fur."

"That's good to know."

Ivy and Bunny soon fell into comfortable silence as they continued to walk down the hallway, but the silence didn't last long as Ivy decided to ask Bunny an important question.

"So…what does North want us to gather for?" asked Ivy softly.

A sad frown appeared on Bunny's face before he let out a soft sigh, then turned to sadly look down at Ivy.

"North wants all of us to gather in the workshop near the Globe Room to take part in the funeral for Sandy."

"But…I thought you guys already did it without me, while I was sleeping in the guest room," said Ivy in befuddlement.

"North wants _all_ of us to attend Ivy and that includes you too," explained Bunny.

"But…I hardly even know Sandy," voiced Ivy as she looked down at the ground with a sad frown set upon her face. "I'm not even a part of your team and I feel like I was the one who'd let Sandy down."

Bunny gently placed a paw/hand on Ivy's shoulder to make her stop walking before turning her around to face him as he knelt down to get eye level with her.

"Ivy, you aren't the only one who feels that you let Sandy down," spoke Bunny gently to the young girl. "The other Guardians and I also feel the same way about what happened to Sandy and we'd all wished that we could have done something to save him."

"Yeah…but I'd bet Jack feels worse off than any of us," added Ivy.

"Probably," said Bunny, "after all…he was the one who tried his hardest to save Sandy."

Ivy nodded her head as she looked down at the stone floor once again. Bunny gently sighed before pressing his forehead gently against Ivy's like he did back at the lagoon for a moment before he pulled apart from her to look into her sad eyes. The Guardian then gently took Ivy's hand into his paw/hand before standing up to his full height again.

"We should go meet up with the others," said Bunny softly.

Ivy's only response was her hand gently squeezing Bunny's paw/hand as she began to walk alongside the Guardian as he led her to the Globe Room. Everyone within the factory had already gathered when Ivy and Bunny arrived as they all stood around four stone panels set within a wooden circle as they surrounded a large 'G' that sat in the middle of a stone square. The four panels were all pointing north, south, east and west as they made up the points of a Cardinal Compass. Each panel had the picture of the four Guardians, but everyone had their attention the panel that had the picture of Sandy on it. North and Tooth, who was holding a lit lantern within her hands, were standing or hovering over the panel as Ivy and Bunny came up to stand with them. Ivy stood on the left side of Bunny as she looked down at Sandy's panel, which had a few candles sitting around it, in silence, while a few tears began to well up in her eyes. Tooth slowly lowered herself to the ground until she was sitting on her knees before gently placing the lantern she was holding down on Sandy's panel.

' _I'm sorry Sandy,_ ' thought Ivy sadly to herself. ' _If I could, I would turn back the hands of time and could have prevent your death by taking the hit of Pitch's dark arrow, then you would still be with the Guardians to help them in protecting the children._ '

Tooth was soon hovering in the air again between Bunny and North as the two male Guardians sadly looked down at the image of their friend and respected team member. Ivy tried to hold back her tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, but failed miserably as they freely ran down her cheeks and gave out chocked sob. Looking for comfort, Ivy slowly raised her hand up and gently grasped Bunny's left paw/hand. In response, Bunny's paw gently squeezed around Ivy's hand as he gave Ivy as much comfort as he could. With his other paw/hand, Bunny gently grasped Tooth's hand while giving the Queen Fairy a sad glance as he fought back the tears that were forming in his eyes. Sandy was one of Bunny's oldest and closet friends that the rabbit had known when he became a Guardian a long time ago. The Dream Weaver will be missed and the Guardians will never forget him for as long as they lived. Tooth soon linked hands with North before all four of them quietly bowed their heads in respect for their fallen Guardian friend along with the yetis. The only sound that was heard throughout the Workshop was the gentle ringing of bells that rung from the elves' hats as they slowly rocked back and forth among the crowed. Ivy let out a quiet sniff before she glanced around for a second to see if she could find Jack within the crowed, but saw no sign of the winter spirit.

' _He must be somewhere else within North's Workshop,_ ' thought Ivy sadly to herself before looking down at Sandy's stone image again. ' _I guess he wanted to be alone for a while, but I can't say that I blame him. Jack was the one who tried his hardest to save Sandy for that he must be taking it a lot harder than me. I'll start looking around for him after the funeral is over._ '

With that thought firmly in her head, Ivy once again bowed her head sadly in respect for the lost Guardian of Dreams. As Ivy, the Guardians, yetis and elves silently mourned the loss of the Dream Weaver they didn't notice a black, red eyed raven looking down on them from within the rafters of North's Workshop. The raven was silent as it watched the group mourn the loss of their friend with sadness imprinted within its red eyes. For a while the raven did not move, but it soon did as it slowly bowed its head down in sadness as it too mourned the loss of Sandy. It was only a few moments later that the crowd began to disperse. The yetis were ordered to get back to work, the elves left to wonder around the Workshop to either cause havoc or steal cookies and the Guardians separated to have some time alone to themselves. The raven kept its eyes on Ivy as the young teenager began to walk in a random direction in search of the frost spirit. The raven quietly followed Ivy for a while before it hid itself within the rafters again when Ivy finally found Jack sitting near a large glass window that over looked the mountain side of the North Pole. The raven watched as Ivy walked up to Jack and stood silently beside him as the frost spirit glanced at Ivy for a second before looking out the window again. Ivy sat down beside Jack and gently leaned against him to offer the frost spirit some comfort without talking to him. The raven nodded its head in approval to what it was seeing before it disappeared from the rafters in a small white blanket of fog.

To be continued

Well that's the end of this chapter, I hope all of you read and review this chapter. Enjoy it, and Happy New Years!

White Hunter, howling out to you and the spirits!


	7. Fun within the Warren

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Sorry for the long wait everyone, happy Easter Monday. I hope you like this chapter and review it to see what you think of it.

Chapter 7: fun within the warren

Ivy stayed by Jack's side as she continued to lean against the winter spirit to comfort him as much as possible, while Jack gently tapped one of his fingers against the window's glass. The frost began to take on the small image of Sandy with the dream weaver's arms held wide out on both sides of him. Ivy silently watched this happen before sitting up and turning her heard around when she heard the sound of North's heavy footsteps coming towards them.

"Are you and Ivy alright Jack?" North asked.

Ivy shook her head 'no' in a sign to answer that she wasn't alright before Jack spoke up in a sad voice.

"I just, wish I could have done something." Jack said.

"Done something?" repeated North as he took a seat on the windowsill to face the two teens. "Jack, you stood up to Pitch. And Ivy, you took down a herd of Nightmares when they were attacking the sleigh. You both saved us."

"Not all of us," voiced Ivy as she looked down at the ground in despair. "Sandy…"

"Would have been proud of what you two did, Ivy" said North with a gentle smile.

Ivy and Jack both looked up at North with a small bit of doubt upon their faces. Jack pulled his hood down before he jumped off from his seat by the window, while Ivy continued to sit where she was as she looked down at the ground before her. North stood up and walked after Jack.

"I don't know who you were in your past life, but in this life you and Ivy are Guardians." North said firmly as he gently placed a hand on Jack's shoulder.

Jack was quiet for a moment as he let North's words sink in before he spoke once again with uncertainty.

"But how can I know who I am, until I find out who I was?" questioned Jack.

"You will." North said with a smile. "I feel it," the large man then patted his stomach, "In my belly."

Ivy only frowned as she continued to look down at the ground before she stood up from her place on the windowsill and began to walk away from the two spirits. Jack noticed this and became concerned as he watched the young teen walk away from him and North.

"Ivy?" called Jack in a soft voice.

Ivy stopped in her tracks before she turned to look at Jack and North.

"I…just need to have some time to myself for a while," said Ivy gently.

"Ivy, I'm afraid that there isn't time to be by yourself." North interjected with a firm look upon his face. "Pitch is still at large and we need all of the Guardians to…"

"Can't you get it through that thick head yours?!" shouted Ivy as anger took over her senses. "I'm not a Guardian! I'm not even a human! I don't even know what I am anymore! All I know is that I'm some werewolf shapeshifter, who has no idea where she comes from and who her parents are! I just…Just leave me alone!"

With that, Ivy ran out of the room in frustration and anger, while not know where she was going. All she knew was that she needed to be somewhere where she could collect her thoughts on what she had experienced throughout her adventures with the Guardians. Ivy continued to run for about an hour until she barged through two large wooden doors that led to a large room, which held thousands, upon thousands of books. Ivy panted as she tried to regain some of her breath before she walked further into the room and sat down on a large red sofa. Ivy sat quietly on the sofa for a while before she began to whimper as tears started to run down her face once again.

' _Why…why is all of this happening to me?_ ' thought Ivy as she gripped the leggings of her pants tightly with her hands, while tears splashed down onto the back of her knuckles.

Ivy didn't know how long she sat there crying, but it slowly came to an end when she felt someone sitting down beside her. Ivy was taken slightly off guard when that someone placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she quickly looked up to see Tooth sitting beside her on the sofa.

"Tooth?" voiced Ivy in confusion.

The queen fairy smiled as she gently pulled Ivy into a hug. Ivy froze in surprise for a moment before relaxing into the hug.

"We heard you shouting at North a few moments ago," said Tooth as she pulled back to look Ivy in the eyes. "Are you alright?"

Ivy hesitated for a moment before she sadly looked away from Tooth: "No".

"I'm guessing that North's speech didn't have that positive affect on you, eh?" spoked a familiar Aussie voice.

Ivy looked up to see Bunny walking into the room with a concern look upon his face. Ivy shook her head 'no' to answer the Pooka's question before the Guardian sat on the other side of the sofa.

"I figured as much," sight Bunny as he leaned into the back of the sofa.

"He keeps saying that Jack and I are Guardians," said Ivy as she looked down at the floor, while not bothering to wipe her tears away.

"Well you are," spoked Tooth as she tried to reason with the girl.

"No, I'm not," argued Ivy firmly as she looked at Tooth in frustration. "I'm not a…spirit like you guys and I just found out that I'm not even human back at the lagoon of your palace. Even though Bunny gave me a lowdown on what the Ōkami clan is, I still can't grasp as to why I was abandoned at the orphanage in the first place."

"I'm sure your parents had their reasons," said Tooth gentle.

"Yeah, like what?" questioned Ivy ruefully.

"It could be that they didn't want you to get involved with some enemies that they made," replied Bunny with a thoughtful look upon his face.

"Like the Shadow-man?" questioned Ivy bluntly with a frown.

"Probably," muttered Bunny as he crossed his arms over his chest. "If they have, then they wouldn't want him to get his hands on you and keep you as a hostage, while making your parents do his dirty work."

Ivy became quiet as she thought over what Bunny had said and slowly turned her head away from the older Guardian as a sad look of understanding came over her face. But it still didn't quench the hurt within Ivy's heart at the fact that her parents had abandoned her at the orphanage. Ivy was brought out of his thoughts when Tooth brought her into another gentle hug. Ivy was a little unsure by this act of affection for a moment before she calmly leaned against the Queen Fairy as a single tear ran down her left cheek. Bunny gently placed his paw/hand on Ivy's left shoulder as he gave the young girl his own silent comfort. The trio didn't know how long they sat on the sofa for, but the hug soon ended when Bunny spoke.

"We need to get ourselves together, mates." Bunny said as he got serious. "We can't let our feelings get in the way of what we need to do."

Ivy pulled away from Tooth and looked up at Bunny before she wiped a stray tear away from her right cheek. Ivy then took on a serious expression and nodded her head in agreement. Just then, Fayette and Baby Tooth flew into the room as they chirped in panicked voices.

"What's wrong?" asked Ivy in concern.

A look of horror appeared on Tooth's face as she looked at her two companions: "We need to get to the globe room right away."

Without another word, Ivy, Tooth and Bunny quickly made their way out of the room and headed towards the globe room. The trio soon met up with Jack and North in the globe room and what they saw horrified them. The lights on the globe started to disappear one by one before their eyes.

"Look how fast they're going out," voiced Tooth.

"It's fear," spoke Jack as he flew away from the group and hovered over the globe, while watching the lights go out before him. "He's tipped the balance."

"This isn't good," said Ivy with a shake of her head. "With Sandy gone, Pitch has the upper hand now."

North and Tooth gazed down at the ground in defeat for a moment before Bunny spoke up from behind Ivy and the two Guardians.

"Eh, buck up you sad sacks," said Bunny with a confident smirk upon his face before leaping past the trio and jumped onto the control panel in a crouch. "We can still turn this around."

"How?" asked Ivy curiously, "Pitch has us up against the wall, Long-ears. So how can we turn this whole thing around for us?"

Bunny only gave Ivy a knowing smile before standing up to his full height again on the control panel: "Easter, is tomorrow and I need your help."

Jack flew down and stood with the group as a new hope grew within them.

' _I can't believe that I forgot about Easter,_ ' thought Ivy in disbelief. ' _I guess when you're being chased by spirits and having to fight a bad guy in the process, it can make anyone forget something important as Easter._ '

Bunny continued on with his speech: "I say we pull out all the stops and we'd get those little lights flickering again."

Ivy smirked as she walked forwards with her hands on her waist: "Then what are we waiting for?"

The group soon exited out through a large door with North leading the group as they made their way to one of the elevators of the workshop.

"Bunny is right!" exclaimed North before they entered the elevator and took it down to the lower levels of the workshop. "As much as it pains me to say it, old friend, but this time Easter _is_ more important than Christmas."

Bunny's mouth dropped open in bafflement at what North had said as the larger man exited out of the elevator. Excitedly, Bunny turned to look at the others with a joyous expression upon his face.

"Hey, did everyone hear that?" questioned Bunny to the group.

"We heard," replied Ivy with a giggle as she, Jack and Tooth followed behind Bunny, who was hopping around in excitement.

The group soon met up with Phil and another yeti, the one that had been painting the toy robots, which stood near the elevator. The two yetis grabbed some weapons from a rack that stood near the elevator. Phil handed a spear to his yeti friend, while the grey yeti grabbed two mace-hammers.

"We must hurry to the Warren," said North firmly as he marched ahead of the group, "Everyone, to the sleigh!"

' _Oh goodie, another crazy ride in the sleigh,_ ' thought Ivy sarcastically to herself.

But the group didn't get to go another step further as Bunny stepped in front of North and stopped the Guardian of Wonder in his tracks.

"Oh-no, mate," said Bunny with a smirk on his face, while placing his paw/hands on his waist. "My Warren, my rules, buckle-up."

With those words, Bunny thumped his right foot down on the ground, twice. Ivy was up front with North and when she saw what Bunny had done, only one word came into the young teen's head.

"Uh-oh" voiced Ivy.

"Shostakoich!" whispered North as he cursed in Russian.

Then, without warning, a large hole opened up underneath the groups' feet before they all fell in with Bunny jumping in after them. The group soon found themselves sliding down a large steep tunnel of grass as they let out loud cheers of laughter and excitement. Well… all except North, who was screaming out in terror along with his yetis, while Bunny ran passed him as the large rabbit let out a laugh. Ivy couldn't help herself as she also let out a laugh of joy as she slid behind Tooth, while North slid behind her. This was the most fun Ivy had ever done in her life and all too soon it ended as they all came to the end of their exciting ride. Jack had landed perfectly on his feet, while Tooth flew up into the air as she dizzily shook her head to clear it with Baby Tooth and Fayette flying beside her. Ivy came out of the tunnels next and managed to land on her feet by going into a roll, but she was quickly knocked off of her feet by an elf, which had accidently came along with them for the ride. Ivy waved her arms around wildly to try and keep her balance, but she soon found herself falling forward. Ivy waited to face plant into the ground, but her fall was quickly cut short. Ivy blinked in surprise when she found that she had fallen face first into Bunny's furry chest and realized that the large rabbit had caught her.

"You okay, kiddo?" asked Bunny as he helped Ivy stand back up.

"Yeah, I'm okay" replied Ivy with a smile of embarrassment appearing on her face. "Thanks for catching me."

Bunny only nodded at Ivy as he let the young teen step away from him. Ivy soon turned her attention towards the tunnel that she exited from and saw North, along with his yetis, lying in a heap on the ground. North let out a laugh as he raised an arm up with one finger pointing skywards.

"Buckle-up," said North before he saw up and looked at Tooth "Is very funny."

Ivy playfully rolled her eyes at the larger man, while Bunny let out a chuckle of his own before he spoke to the group.

"Welcome to the Warren!" announced Bunny with a proud smile on his face.

Ivy had a chance to look around and what she saw made her mouth drop open in shock and amazement. Bunny's home was absolutely beautiful. Everywhere, there were trees, flowers, grass and stone. It was like an eternal spring paradise and Ivy guessed that she was one of the very first outsiders to ever see a place like this.

"This place is amazing!" exclaimed Ivy with smile.

"Glad ya' like it," said Bunny.

Ivy was about to say something else when two stone giants that were in the shapes of eggs walked over to the group with happy expressions on their surfaces. Ivy quickly tensed when she saw the stone egg giants as her wolf tail and ears appeared.

"Hey, easy ankle-biter, they aren't a threat," said Bunny in a calm voice. "These are my Golems. They help me in protecting the Warren."

At those words, Ivy began to relax for a minute, but quickly tensed again up again when her wolf ears suddenly caught a sound that was so small, she was surprise that she could hear it. Bunny also became alert as his ears stood up straight up on his head. He quickly turned around towards one of the tunnels of his Warren and his ears began to move around, while he quickly sniffed the air for a second.

"Something's up," voiced Bunny as he warned the group behind him.

Ivy turned to look at the tunnel Bunny was staring at intently and out of the tunnel came millions of little white eggs that ran on two little legs. Ivy, Jack and the Guardians quickly got into their own battle stances as they prepared to fight the intruder that had broken into the Warren. The egg Golems also got ready as they changed their faces from happy to aggressive expressions. Ivy's nails changed into sharp claws as she crouched down, while she waited to spring forward and tear into the threat that would come out of the tunnel. The group began to hear a loud scream from the tunnel before Bunny let out a battle cry with everyone else joining him as they began to charge towards the tunnel. Ivy was about to leap forward and pounce on the intruder when she suddenly stopped in her tracks along with the others as they all came face-to-face with…a little girl.

The girl had long blonde hair with long bangs covering one of the green eyes of the girl. The girl was wearing light blue pajamas that had pink polka-dots. The girl's pajama top had a green stripe that circled around the girl's chest, which separated the blue at the bottom and the yellow at the top. The girl's little feet were bare of any footwear. In the little girl's arms were three of the little white eggs that were kicking their legs. The girl looked to be around three or four years old.

The little girl looked up at the group in wonder and awe, while the Guardians and Ivy stared at her in shock and confusion. Ivy stared down at the girl as she frowned in thought, wondering where she had seen this girl before. Jack was the one to break the silence as he spoke the little girl's name.

"Sophie?" said Jack.

Bunny, North and the yetis quickly hid their weapons behind their backs as they and the others all fell out of their battle stances. The Guardians, Jack and Ivy all smiled nervously and were hoping that they didn't scare the little girl. The child, Sophie, soon changed her surprised look to an excited one as she dropped the three eggs that she held in her arms to the ground and began to chase after the elf that had followed the group to the Warren.

"Elf, elf, elf!" shouted Sophie excitedly.

"Uh…Jack," started Ivy as she turned to look at the winter spirit. "How do you know that little girl's names?"

"Well…Sophie is Jamie's little sister," replied Jack with a shrug and a smile.

"That makes sense," mumbled Ivy as she changed her claws back to human finger nails.

Bunny was distressed that a human child had entered his Warren without him knowing about it.

"What is _she_ doing _here_?!" exclaimed Bunny as he turned around to look at the group.

"The real question is _how_ did she get here?" corrected Ivy as she turned an accusing eye on North. "Do you know what could have happened, North?"

North quickly placed his swords back into their sheaths and started patting his hands all over his coat as realization dawned over him.

"Uh…Snow Globe," said North with a sheepish look upon his face.

Phil let out a grunt that sounded suspiciously like an 'uh-oh' to Ivy. Ivy gave North a deadpanned look before speaking to him again.

"North…you gotta place you Snow Globs someplace safer other than in your coat pocket."

Bunny let out a growl before her shouted: "Crikey, somebody do something!"

Bunny turned his gaze on Ivy and Jack with an expectant look upon his face. Jack backed up as he held his hands up innocently.

"Don't look at me, I'm invisible, remember?" said Jack with an amused smirk on his face.

"And what do I know about bringing joy to children anyway?" asked Ivy rhetorically as she repeated the words that Bunny had said when they first met.

Bunny frowned at Ivy and was about to open his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Sophie's voice. The group looked down to see that the little girl had caught the elf and was now dragging it along on the ground by the hat.

"Elf, elf, elf!" cheered Sophie with a laugh.

Ivy couldn't help, but let out a laugh of her own as she watched the poor elf being dragged around by Sophie.

"Don't worry Bunny," spoked Tooth as she flew forward and got Sophie's attention with the little girl letting go of the elf in the process. "I bet she's a fairy fan. It's okay little one."

"Pretty!" exclaimed Sophie excitedly.

"Ooohhh," cooed Tooth as she blushed at the comment Sophie gave her.

"She's not hard to please," whispered Ivy to Jack.

"Who, Sophie?" asked Jack curiously.

Ivy nodded her head as she continued to watch Tooth interact with Sophie as the Fairy Queen flew a little closer to the child.

"You know what? I've got something for you~" sung Tooth as she held her hand out to show Sophie a couple of teeth. "Here it is. Look at all the pretty teeth, with a little blood and gum on them."

Ivy smacked her forehead as she let out a groan at what Tooth had just said. Sophie looked at Tooth for a second before she let out a scream and ran away, crying, while causing Tooth to flinch back. Ivy rolled her eyes before giving Tooth a disapproving look.

"Nice work, Tooth, you just scared a little girl out of her fairy fan faze," spoke Ivy sarcastically before she walked over to where Sophie was crying.

Sophie was crouched down near a large rock and was crying her little eyes out. Ivy slowly walked up to Sophie before crouching down beside the child and started to gently talk to the little girl.

"Hey, it's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of." Ivy spoke softly to the child.

Sophie quickly stopped crying as she turned to look up at Ivy curiously.

"That a girl," said Ivy with a gentle smile, "It's alright."

Sophie continued to stare at Ivy as she watched the wolf ears twitch on top of the teen's head and the tail that gently wagged back and forth behind the older girl. Ivy noticed that Sophie was looking at her wolf ears and tail before feeling a little shy under the child's curious gaze.

"Yeah…these things look pretty unnatural on me, huh?" said Ivy as she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "I guess you could say that I look-"

"Doggie!" cheered Sophie as she quickly shot up and hugged Ivy around her neck.

Ivy went stiff in surprise at Sophie suddenly hugging her before Ivy slowly calmed down and hesitantly hugged Sophie back. A small, but gentle smile appeared on Ivy's face as she held Sophie in her arms for a moment. Ivy began to remember her time back in the orphanage where she would comfort the younger children when they woke up from a terrible nightmare and hugged them as they cried before they fell back to sleep. Ivy could sense that Sophie was full of young innocents and the young teen couldn't help but feel a need to protect this young girl that she held in her arms right now. Ivy let out a soft sigh before gently pushing Sophie away from her and placed the child down on the ground.

"I have to admit kid, you're not afraid to speak your mind that's for sure," Ivy complemented.

Sophie let out a giggle before her attention was caught by a group of little eggs that had all gathered around Ivy and her as they watched them curiously. Ivy also noticed the little eggs staring at her and Sophie as well before a frown of displeasure came over the teen's face.

"Here we go again with the staring," muttered Ivy before she raised her voice. "Hasn't your caretaker ever told you that staring is rude?"

The response the egglets gave Ivy were of them running away from her with Sophie chasing after them. Ivy stood up with a huff as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Kids," muttered Ivy half-heartedly.

"But you love them," spoke Jack with a smirk.

Ivy gave Jack a smirk of her own before turning around to look at Tooth.

"Tooth, you got to come up with something better to say when it comes to showing kids their teeth." Ivy advised the Queen Fairy. "Blood and gums are not something they want to hear."

"Ivy's right," said Jack as he floated up from the ground and landed on a moss covered statue with an open mouth as the little egglets ran to hide inside the statue when Sophie chased them. "When was the last time you guys actually hung out with kids?"

"Peek-a-boo!" shouted Sophie into the statue's mouth, thus scarring out the little eggs as they began to run again.

"That's a good question," asked Ivy as she watched Sophie chase the little eggs for a second before looking at the three Guardians. "When _was_ the last time you three actually interacted with kids like Sophie and Jamie?"

North frowned at the two teens in front of him, while Bunny ushered the little eggs to hide behind him.

"We are very busy bringing joy to children, we don't have time…" North paused as he and the others watched Sophie chasing after a couple of butterflies for a second before he continued. "…for children?"

Ivy raised an eyebrow up in amusement, while crossing her arms over her chest: "You guys are supposed to be Guardians who protect children, but you've never interacted with a single child in your entire lives?"

The other three Guardians looked either down at the ground or at each other in embarrassment at Ivy's question. Ivy shook her head while letting out a sigh in the process.

"That answers that question," muttered Ivy in exasperation.

Jack walked up to stand right beside Ivy with a confident, yet playful, smirk on his face as he created a single snowflake with his free hand before he spoke in a calm and laid back voice.

"If one kid can ruin Easter then…" Jack paused as he set the snowflake flying on a soft breeze before looking at the three Guardians. "We're in worse shape than I thought."

Ivy watched curiously as the snowflake floated through the air, while catching the attention of Sophie, who began to chase it after it. The sight of Sophie chasing after the little snowflake made Ivy smile. The snowflake's flight soon came to an end as it floated towards Bunny, who was watching the snowflake in confusion, before it landed on the rabbit's nose and burst into blue sparkles. Ivy watched as a calm smile appeared on Bunny's face, while sensing a relaxing aura coming from him instead of his usual tenseness. Ivy turned a curious eye on Jack, who only smirked at her.

"What did you do?" asked Ivy.

"Just a little trick that I've learned to do during my three hundred years of traveling," replied Jack in a casual voice.

Ivy only raised an eyebrow at the winter spirit before shrugging her shoulders and turning her attention back on Bunny as he began to interact with Sophie. Ivy watched with a smile before she began to follow after the two as Bunny led Sophie over to a small hill where they crouched down in front of a small pink flower that looked ready to bloom. Ivy crouched down behind Sophie as she watched the flower open up and what was inside the flower surprised Ivy. In the bloomed flower was a little white egg that quickly grew legs in a matter of seconds.

"Wow," spoke Ivy as her eyes widened in wonder at what she had witnessed in front of her. "So that's where your eggs come from, huh?"

"That's right," spoke Bunny with a proud smile before he turned his attention onto Sophie. "You wanna paint some eggs, yeah?"

"Okay!" cheered Sophie excitedly.

"Come one then," said Bunny gently.

Ivy let out a light chuckle as she watched Bunny pick Sophie up and placed the little girl on his back before the Guardian took off running on four legs. The little egg began to jump up and down to get Ivy's attention as the teen gathered it up in her hands.

"Come on little one, you don't want to get left behind by your brothers and sisters do you?" said Ivy as she placed the little egg down on the ground.

The egglet quickly ran off to join a whole herd of eggs that were all marching down the hills of the Warren. Ivy carefully made her way through the sea of little eggs as she met up with a bewildered North and Jack.

"Rimsky Korsakov!" exclaimed North as he placed his fists on his waist. "That's a lot of eggs."

"Uh, how much time do we have?" asked Jack, while he crouched on top of his staff as he watched the herd of eggs running across the ground below him.

"Is that a rhetorical question or do I have to answer it?" questioned Ivy with a playful smirk on her face.

Before Jack could reply, Ivy's attention was caught yet again by the same egg that had hatched from the flower as it bumped against her ankle. Ivy smiled as she looked down at the little egg in amusement.

' _Looks like I have another little being growing attached to me,_ ' thought Ivy.

The little egg began to jump up and down before it ran off with the other eggs again. Ivy let out a chuckle before she found herself changing into her full wolf form and began to run through the crowd of little eggs, while being careful not to step on any of them within the process. Ivy soon caught up with Bunny and Sophie as they all ran through a path of bluebells with the little eggs following right behind them. Ivy quickly glanced over her shoulder as she witnessed the bluebells spitting out different colors of paint onto the little eggs that ran underneath them. Ivy's heart began to pound in excitement as a confident smile appeared on her muzzle.

' _If we keep this up, we'll be able to finish painting all these little eggs in time for Easter before the sun rises,'_ thought Ivy as she continued to run ahead of the little eggs as she led them to their next destination.

Fayette met up with Ivy a few minutes later as the little fairy hitched a ride on the she-wolf's head. Ivy smiled when she felt the familiar weight of her little friend sitting on her head. Ivy then heard Bunny's voice echo through the Warren as he gave out commands to the group.

"Alright troops, it's time to push back," spoke Bunny confidently. "That means eggs _everywhere_! Heaps of you on every high-rise, farm house and trail park! In tennis shoes and cereal bowls, oh, there will be bathtubs filled with my beautiful googies!"

"I think Jack might have gone a little overboard with putting too much magic in that one little snowflake of his," muttered Ivy quietly, half to Fayette and half to herself.

Fayette nodded in agreement from on top of Ivy's head as the she-wolf changed her running pace to a steady trot as she passed through a large field of rocks. Ivy glanced over her shoulder again and smiled when she saw that Sophie was now being carried by the herd of little eggs, while the child let out a loud gleeful laugh of excitement.

' _Someone is enjoying herself,_ ' thought Ivy with a giggle before looking ahead again.

Ivy soon changed into a walk as she passed through a tunnel that led to a small river that was running through the Warren. The waters of the river were of tie-dye paint where the colors seem to mix and blend together as it flowed down hill. Ivy jumped over the river in one graceful bound before sitting down near the edge of the bank as she and Fayette waited for the little eggs on the other side. One egg went ahead of the herd and stood near the edge of the small cliff that hung over the river. The little egg hesitated for a second before it was pushed in by the elf that had followed Ivy and the Guardians. Baby Tooth was right beside the elf as she chirped at him in a scolding manner, while the elf danced around victoriously with a large stupid grin on his face.

"I wouldn't get to gleeful if I were you Twinkle Toes," said Ivy with a smirk as she lifted her left paw and pointed it behind the elf. "Just look behind you."

The elf, now dubbed as Twinkle Toes, turned around as Ivy told him to and the stupid grin dropped from his face when he saw the large stamped of little eggs heading towards him. Twinkle Toes was soon pushed into the river by the little eggs herd, who all jumped in after him. Ivy, Fayette and Baby Tooth all burst out laughing at Twinkle Toes misfortune before Ivy jumped back over to the other side again when she saw Sophie standing near the edge of the bank. The little eggs had placed the young girl back on her feet again when they came near the river. Sophie let out a giggle when she saw Ivy in her wolf form and began to pet her fur. Ivy nuzzled her face against Sophie's for a second before she lay down on the ground in front of the little girl.

"Want to go for a little ride?" asked Ivy gently.

Sophie nodded her head excitedly before she quickly climbed up onto Ivy's back. Ivy waited for Sophie to get settled on her back before she slowly climbed back up onto her paws again. Ivy easily jumped over the little river again without jostling her little passenger too much as she gracefully landed on the bank. Ivy walked a few paces away from the little river before crouching down to let Sophie off her back before looking behind her to see North pulling one of the little eggs out of the river when it got caught in a small whirlpool. North held the little egg upside-down as the egg's little legs kicked around in the air.

"Okay, that's a little strange," spoke North as he stared wide-eyed at the little egg he held between his fingers.

"Nah, mate," spoke Bunny. "That's adorable."

Ivy turned to see Bunny sitting three feet in front of her as he cuddled with a few of his little eggs. Ivy couldn't help but smile at the scene before her when she saw Bunny with his little eggs.

' _He really is a big softy when he wants to be,_ ' thought Ivy.

Ivy soon looked down at the ground as she watched the little eggs walk out of the river along with Twinkle Toes, who came out of the river with a sour look upon his face. Ivy and Fayette burst out laughing again when they saw Twinkle Toes come out, painted from head to toe, in different types of colors. Twinkle Toes frowned soon changed into joy when he stuck out his tongue and saw that it was painted in different colors like the rest of his body. North gently placed the little egg that he had rescued down on the ground. It stood beside Twinkle Toes as it hopped up and down in excitement before running off to follow its siblings in its new purple and pink color coating. Ivy watched the little eggs and Twinkle Toes follow after Sophie like a group of little ducklings with a smile. Bunny let the rest of his little eggs he had been cuddling with a few moments ago join the others as he leaped onto a moss covered boulder.

"There will be spring time, on every continent!" exclaimed Bunny as he sat proudly on the boulder with light shining down on him. "And I'm bringing hope with me!"

' _Hope?_ ' thought Ivy when she heard what Bunny had said before she began to remember what Easter was really all about. ' _Of course, Easter is for a time of Hope as people look forward to new beginnings. That must be what Bunny's center is._ '

With that thought firmly in her mind, Ivy, along with Fayette, trotted off after the little eggs as she followed them to a group of vines. The little eggs walked along the vines before they slid down them where the end of the vines dropped down and began to coil around in a spiral. The little eggs gently dropped down to the ground with each of them bearing a different pattern on their surface. Phil watched them in fascination before blinking in surprise as Twinkle Toes came through one of the vine's coils and landed on the ground with a thud. Twinkle Toes, now covered in a pattern like the other little eggs, got up and dizzily walked away, while passing the brown yeti that came along with the group to the Warren. Ivy decided to call the yeti, Digger, and right now he was painting a couple of little eggs red before Bunny hoped passed him.

"Too Christmas-y, mate, paint 'em blue," said Bunny.

Digger looked over at the little eggs that he already finished painting and yelled out in frustration: "What the?!"

Digger threw his arms up in the air in exasperation before falling down onto his side. Ivy trotted up to Digger with a sympathetic smile on her muzzle.

"You know, Digger, it's probably best to remember that red is for Christmas and blue is for Easter," suggested Ivy. "I think it's also wise to remember, in the future, is that maybe you should ask North on what color you should use for the toy that you would be painting next time."

Digger only let out a grumble before Ivy continued on her way as she followed the herd of little eggs to the end of their journey, while transforming back to her human form with her wolf ears and tail still being visible. The new clothing that had been given to Ivy appeared again on her body when she turned back into her human form, much to her relief. Ivy met up with Bunny and Sophie by a stone archway as the young child excitedly looked around before Bunny spoke to Sophie.

"Oh, what's over there?" asked Bunny playfully as he gestured with his head towards a long patch of grass.

Sophie quickly ran towards the grass when she saw something moving in it before picking up a pink and purple egg that had light blue patterns on its surface. Ivy stood beside Bunny, who was crouched down on the ground, while she watched with a smile as Sophie came running up to them with a giggle before showing two of them the little egg she found.

"That's a beauty!" exclaimed Bunny before he gently took Sophie's hand into his paw/hand and began to lead her through the Archway with Ivy following along right behind them. "Now, all we gotta do is get him and his little friends through the tunnels, to the top, and we'll have ourselves Easter."

The trio soon walked out onto a large hill that overlooked a wide open valley with millions of large tunnels. A few of the tunnels had pictures of different continents etched above them. The herd of little eggs walked down a long winding path as they headed towards the tunnels that would lead them to their assigned destinations. Ivy sat down on Bunny's left side as she watched the many different colored eggs in wonderment. Bunny was also sitting on the ground with a proud smile upon his face as Sophie stood near his right side with a look of wonder on her face, while she cradled the little egg she held in her arms. Ivy's ears twitched when she heard the light padding sound of feet coming up from behind her and looked over her shoulder to see Jack coming up to them. Ivy gave Jack a warm smile that he returned back before he crouched down near Sophie as he too watched the little eggs with an impressed look on his face. The comforting silence between the foursome was gently broken by Sophie as the little girl let out a tired yawn before she walked over to Bunny and crawled into his lap. Bunny gently lifted Sophie up into his arms to hold her as a warm smile appeared on his face before Jack spoke up.

"Not bad," praised Jack as he looked at Bunny.

The power from Jack's snowflake began to ware off, but Bunny found a new respect for the young Winter Spirit as he glanced up at the boy beside him.

"You're not bad yourself," said Bunny with a gentle smile before turning his head to look at Ivy. "And that includes you too, wolf pup."

At some point, Ivy would have told Bunny not to call her that, but now she didn't care for she accept it after realizing what she was now. Ivy smiles as she gently leans against Bunny's shoulder.

"Thanks mate," said Ivy.

Bunny smirks at Ivy before he looks down at Sophie again. Jack soon spoke up after a minute of silence.

"Look I'm sorry about the whole, you know, the 'kangaroo' thing," said Jack.

"It's the accent isn't it?" asked Bunny in humor.

"Yeah that could be it," answered Ivy with a smirk.

The trio let out a quiet chuckle so that they wouldn't wake Sophie up as they looked down at the little girl with North, Tooth, Fayette and Baby Tooth coming up to join them. Bunny gazed down at Sophie with a look of fondness crossing over his face as he remembered how he once held one of his little siblings in his arms so long ago.

"Ah, poor little ankle-bitter," voiced Bunny. "Look at her, all tuckered out."

"I would fall asleep too after running around in your Warren and having fun all night long," stated Ivy with a smirk.

"I love her!" cooed Tooth with a smile as she sat on the ground near Ivy and Bunny.

Fayette and Baby Tooth also cooed at the sight as Sophie let out a cute yawn while she slept within the warmth of Bunny's fur. Seeing Sophie sleep like this reminded Ivy on how young and innocent she was when she was a little girl in the orphanage.

' _Sophie's lucky to have a mother and older brother who love her,_ ' thought Ivy with a warm smile on her face.

Tooth soon spoke again after a moment: "I think it's time to get her home."

"You're probably right," said Ivy as Bunny gently handed Sophie over to Tooth. "Her mother must be worried sick about her."

"How about I take her home?" offered Jack as he stood up the same time as Tooth.

Ivy quickly bolted up to her feet along with Bunny as a worried expression appeared on her face along with the other Guardians.

"Jack no," started Tooth. "Pitch is-"

"No match for this," interrupted Jack as he held out his confidently.

"Which is why we need you here, with us," said Bunny as he tried to reason with Jack as he gestured to himself and the group.

"And Pitch is the type of snake who would try anything to win," added Ivy seriously. "I may not have known him as long as the Guardians have, but I do know that Pitch will take out anything or anyone that he sees as a threat to his plans. And he knows that you're a threat, along with me if my guess is correct."

"Ivy, you worry too much," said Jack in a laid back manner.

"Jack-" started Ivy.

"Trust me," interrupted Jack again with a smile, "I'll be quick as a bunny."

Ivy was still unsure that Jack taking Sophie home was a good idea before looking at the other Guardians. They too seemed a little hesitant on letting the Winter Spirit go, but they soon relented after a moment.

"Alright, Jack." North said with a nod. "You can take Sophie home."

"Just…promise us that you'll come right back after taking Sophie home and to not get sidetracked along the way," added Ivy.

"I promise I'll come right back," said Jack as he gently took Sophie from Tooth.

Baby Tooth started chirping as she flew over and landed on Jack's shoulder with a determined look on her face.

"Looks like Baby Tooth wants to go with you Jack," said Tooth with a smile.

"Sounds good to me," said Jack.

"Make sure you keep an eye on him B.T," spoke Ivy before she walked over to Jack.

Ivy gently took the little egg that Sophie was holding before placing a gentle kiss on the little girl's forehead.

"I'll keep this little guy safe for you until tomorrow," whispered Ivy with a smile.

Sophie let out another yawn in response to Ivy's words before a smile appeared on her face. Ivy stepped back and nodded at Jack and Baby Tooth before the two were led away by Bunny to a tunnel that would take them to Burgess. Ivy watched as Jack disappeared from out of sight, while a deep sense of worry continued to run through her heart. North noticed this as he gently placed a hand on Ivy's shoulder with her looking up at him.

"He'll be fine Ivy," reassured North.

"I hope you're right," said Ivy. "I just can't help feeling that something is going to go wrong."

"Bah, you're becoming too much wart-worry," scoffed North.

"It's 'worry-wart', North," corrected Ivy, "and someone needs to keep their wits about them."

Tooth couldn't help but smile at Ivy, while Fayette flew around the teen as she gave out chirps of agreement. North stared down at Ivy in surprise before booming out in laughter.

"Ivy, despite what you say about yourself, I have feeling that you are as good a Guardian as the rest of us!" exclaimed North as he gave a hardy slap to Ivy's back.

Ivy was taken by surprise as she fell forward from the force of the slap and was prepared to land face first on the ground. Ivy's fall was cut short when she once again found her face landing in the soft fur of Bunny's chest.

' _Is this going to keep happening every time I find myself being knocked forward?_ ' thought Ivy before she gently pushed herself away from Bunny's chest, while making sure that the egg she was holding was okay.

"You alright kiddo?" asked Bunny in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Ivy with a smile before holding up the little egg. "And so is this little guy."

Bunny smiled back at Ivy before frowning at North: "Mate, you gotta hold back on that strength of yours once in a while."

North shrugged his shoulders, while giving Bunny a sheepish smile. Bunny only rolled his eyes before standing up to his full height again.

"Right then," said Bunny with a smirk. "There's still a lot more eggs to be painted so let get at it."

With that said, Tooth, Fayette and North all fanned out to paint the rest of the little eggs that were left. Ivy set the little egg that she was holding down on the ground and watched it scamper off into the bushes before standing up straight again. She was about to go after Tooth when Bunny suddenly stopped Ivy by placing a gentle paw/hand on her right shoulder. Ivy turned to look at Bunny in confusion.

"What's up?" asked Ivy.

"I want you to come with me for a tic," answered Bunny gently. "I have something that I think I should give you."

To be continued

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Also, anyone want to take a guess at what Bunny is going to give Ivy within the next chapter?

White Hunter, howling out to you and the spirits!


	8. Dreams, invasion and separation

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Chapter 8: Dreams, invasion and separation

Ivy followed Bunny through the warren in confusion as he led her across a large field of grass, flowers and giant boulders.

"Where exactly are we going, Bunny?" asked Ivy curiously.

Bunny didn't reply to Ivy's question as he only continued to lead her onwards towards through his Warren. They walked for a few minutes until they arrived at a large oak tree with multiple knotholes in its trunk that all range from different sizes. The tree looked to be about thirty feet tall and Ivy couldn't help but feel a majestic aura radiating from the tree itself. Ivy stopped in her tracks as she gazed up at the tree in amazement, while Bunny continued to walk towards the tree as he headed towards one of the knotholes that was at his chest level. The knothole was medium size and looked to be three feet deep. Ivy tore her gaze from the tree as she watched Bunny reach into the knothole of the tree with his right paw, but before he did Ivy caught something glinting in the knothole for a second when a stray light of Warren's underground sun caught it. Ivy watched as Bunny pulled something out from the knothole before he began to walk back over to her. His right paw was wrapped around a dark blue thick silk ribbon, while his left paw held a brass metal medallion that looked like it could fit in the palm of Ivy's hand. Bunny soon stood in front of Ivy before crouching down to her eyelevel as he showed her the medallion that lay in the palm of his paw/hand. On the surface of the medallion was a wolf's paw print with a white/silver finish back ground encircling around it.

"Wow," voiced Ivy as she stared at the medallion in fascination. "Where did you get this medallion?"

"Kiba gave it to me a long time ago before Pitch attacked the Ōkami clan," answered Bunny with a sad smile. "He told me that this medallion is a sign of friendship between me and him after we've gotten to known each other throughout the years. Also, whoever wears this medallion will be given the power to call upon the Ōkami clan for help."

"Really?" said Ivy as she looked up at Bunny in wonderment.

Bunny only nodded his head at Ivy before he looked down at the medallion again.

"I've only ever used the medallion once to call upon Kiba for help when it came to fighting Pitch during the Dark Ages. I was hoping to use it again to see if Kiba could help us in our fight against Pitch again, but the magic within the medallion has started to wane slowly throughout the years and I'm starting to think that with you being the last of your kind…"

Bunny trailed off as Ivy frowned sadly at him, while nodding her head in understanding. With her being the last of the Ōkami clan, the power from within the medallion had grown weaker and if Ivy were to die than the medallion would become just an ordinary piece of metal. Also, as the Guardians had told her, they had no idea where Kiba was as they couldn't seem to find him anywhere, which brings the question on whether or not the Ōkami shapeshifter was alive or dead.

Bunny and Ivy were silent for a while before Bunny surprised the young teen by slipping the silk ribbon of the medallion over her head. The paw print on the medallion's surface faced forward on Ivy's chest as it hung there with the light glinting off its polished surface. Ivy glanced down at the medallion for a sec before looking up at Bunny in astonishment.

"Bunny?" started Ivy with a frown.

Bunny only smiled at her as he continued to stay at eyelevel with her before he began to speak again.

"Ivy…I want you to have that medallion."

"Oh…Bunny I-I couldn't," stuttered Ivy nervously as she was about to lift the medallion off of her neck. "I-I mean, this medallion was given to you by the last original member of the Ōkami Clan."

"Which is why I'm passing it on to you," said Bunny as he gently grabbed Ivy's hands and lowered them away from her neck. "This is my way of showing that I trust you Ivy and that you're also my friend."

Ivy looked at Bunny in surprise for a moment before a small smile began to appear on her face as tears started to brim near the edges of her eyes. Then, without realizing why she did it, Ivy threw herself at Bunny and wrapped her arms around the Guardian's neck. Bunny stiffened for a second before he embraced Ivy back as a gentle smile appeared on his face. After a while, Ivy pulled back and wiped away the tears from her eyes before looking up at Bunny with a determined look upon her face.

"Thanks Bunny," she said. "I promise to take good care of the medallion."

"I know you will Kiddo," said Bunny as he placed a reassuring paw/hand on Ivy's right shoulder for a moment before standing up to his full height again. "Now, let's finish up with painting the rest of those little googies."

"You got it," said Ivy with a firm nod of her head.

Bunny let out a chuckle as he ruffled Ivy's hair for a moment before the two walked off together to finish painting the rest of the Easter eggs. But they, along with the two Guardians, weren't aware of the danger that they would face within Warren from out of the shadows of the tunnels.

An hour later

Ivy and the three Guardians spent the rest of the last remaining hours painting the rest of the little eggs, and it had been exhausting for Ivy when it came to chasing down a few of the little eggs that didn't want to be painted. Ivy had finished her half of painting the eggs before she decided to take a quick nap in her wolf form underneath one of the trees of the Warren. The little eggs that Ivy had been chasing down a twenty minutes ago, and were now painted, decided to join her as they snuggled into her furry side and then fell asleep. Bunny had stumbled upon this scene when he went looking for Ivy and he couldn't help but smile in amusement when he saw his little eggs cuddling up with young wolf girl. Bunny decided to let Ivy rest for a bit before he or one of the other two Guardians decided to come and wake her up to help them in leading the eggs through the tunnels.

"You rest up kiddo," whispered Bunny with a soft smile as he gently petted Ivy on the head. "You'll need your strength for the long haul that we will be going through soon."

With that said, Bunny turned and began to find some of the wayward eggs that needed painting. But unknown to Bunny, Ivy was having a dream vision and it was a bad one.

Dreamworld

 _Ivy, in her half wolf form, found herself sitting on one of the rooves of a house that stood near Jamie and Sophie's house. Ivy was watching from afar as Jack pushed open the top window that led to Sophie's bedroom with Baby Tooth following him inside, while he leaned his staff up against one of the bedroom walls. Ivy couldn't help but laugh when she saw that Jack was having a bit of trouble in getting Sophie to let go of him once he had placed the little girl on her bed. Sophie had her arms wrapped around Jack's neck as the immortal teen struggled to get her to loosen her hold on him. Jack finally untangled Sophie's arms from his neck, while breathing out a sigh of relief. As Jack turned to leave, Sophie had decided to roll over and in the process fell off of her bed. Ivy rolled her eyes in amusement as a playful smirk appeared on her face._

" _Little kids are always so restless in their sleep," muttered Ivy with a chuckle as she remembered how the younger kids in the orphanage would sometimes fall out of their beds during the night._

 _Ivy continued to watch as Jack quickly threw a blanket over Sophie, who was still asleep, and her toy sheep before the frost spirit and Baby Tooth exited through the bedroom window with Jack quickly grabbing his staff along the way. Jack quietly closed the window shut behind him before turning to look at Baby Tooth. With her sharp sense of hearing from her wolf ears, Ivy was able to hear what Jack was saying to Baby Tooth._

" _We should get back," said Jack._

" _You'd better Frosty," muttered Ivy seriously. "Otherwise Bunny will have your head."_

 _Ivy soon stood up on the roof and began to stretch out the muscles in her limbs before she heard the familiar sound of a croaking raven. Ivy quickly turned her gaze upwards and saw the same raven she had seen in her last dream._

' _Oh no,' thought Ivy fearfully as she stared up at the raven. 'That can't be a good sign.'_

 _Suddenly, Ivy's wolf ears perked up when she heard a young girl's voice calling out Jack's name. The voice sounded like a young eight or nine year old girl. Ivy frowned before she looked over to where Jack was standing near Sophie's window with a look of confusion and recognition upon his features. It almost looked like he was in a trance. Ivy's ears twitched as she caught the words of what Jack was saying._

" _T-that voice, I know that voice," whispered Jack._

 _The young girl's voice called out Jack's name again and the winter spirit quickly took off to where he heard the voice, with Baby Tooth following behind him._

" _Jack no!" yelled Ivy as she watched the immortal teen fly off towards the forest that stood outside of Burgess._

 _Ivy was about to follow after Jack when the scene around her began to change and before she knew it, Ivy found herself standing in the woods. Ivy looked around in surprise before she quickly spotted Jack as he walked through the woods with Baby Tooth flying franticly around him as she let out distressed chirps, while tugging at Jack's hooded sweater._

" _Don't worry, there's still time," said Jack as he continued onwards._

 _Ivy let out a growl of annoyance when she heard what Jack had just said before she quickly ran after him._

' _Why do boys, especially immortal ones, have to be so stubborn?' thought Ivy as she followed the duo through the forest._

 _It wasn't long until they all came to a clearing, but this clearing was a peculiar one for standing in the middle of the clearing was an old wooden bedframe that was rotting from the elements that it had faced during the years. Ivy stared at the bedframe suspiciously as she felt a cold chill go down her back._

" _I don't like the looks of this place," muttered Ivy as she continued to follow Jack towards the bedframe._

 _Jack stopped once he came to stand near the bedframe as he stared intently at if for a second before he raised his staff and began to slam the bottom end down on the rotting wooden bed frame slats. The slats soon broke apart to reveal a deep dark hole hidden underneath the rotting bed. Ivy and Jack heard the voice again as it called out from the darkness of the hole. Ivy instantly knew that it was a trap and quickly turned to look at Jack urgently._

" _Jack, no! Don't go down there!" exclaimed Ivy._

 _Jack seemed to jump a little in surprise as if he heard Ivy's voice, but he still kept looking down into the hole below him. Ivy saw the reaction she got from the winter spirit and decided to keep talking to him to see if she could change his mind about going down that hole._

" _This is obviously a trap set up by Pitch, Jack!" barked Ivy. "He wants to draw you down there and distract you from coming back to help me and the others deliver the eggs to the kids. I know you want to find out about your memories, but you can't let it lead you astray! Please, Jack, come back to the Warren."_

 _Ivy waited as she stared at Jack with pleading eyes, while desperately praying that the winter spirit would listen to her. But that hope was dashed when Jack suddenly moved towards the hole with a determined look upon his face._

" _Jack, no!" yelled Ivy as she quickly reached out with her right hand to grab onto Jack's arm._

 _But what happened next shocked Ivy to the very center of her soul. Instead of her hand gripping Jack's arm, Ivy's hand went right through it. Ivy quickly pulled back her hand as she looked down at it in shock before she watched helplessly as Jack jumped into the hole with Baby Tooth following after him. Ivy was about to jump into the hole as well, but was stopped by the raven as the bird flew in front of Ivy and began to caw a her urgently._

" _Get out of my way!" growled Ivy angrily. "I need to go after them!"_

 _The raven's red eyes stared intently at Ivy as they started to glow and Ivy suddenly found her vision changing. Ivy saw Bunny's tunnels being overrun by Nightmares as they smashed their black sand hooves down on the little eggs that were running underneath them as the little eggs desperately tried to make their way up to the surface. Ivy's vision quickly returned to normal as she stared back at the raven in horror._

" _Are you telling me that something bad is going to happen in Bunny's home?" voiced Ivy fearfully._

 _The raven let out a caw as if saying 'yes' to Ivy's question. Ivy frowned in worry and was about to say something to the raven when she suddenly heard Tooth's voice calling out to her._

" _Ivy, Ivy wake up!" spoked Tooth voice as it echoed around Ivy._

 _Ivy's world soon turned dark as she began to return to the waking world._

 _Real world_

Ivy felt someone shaking her shoulder as she began to wake up. Ivy quickly shot up with a gasp before looking at Tooth, who was sitting on the ground in front of her with Fayette hovering beside her mother. The little eggs that had been sleeping with Ivy a while ago had gone to the tunnels to prepare to head to the surface.

"Tooth," breathed Ivy as she caught her breath.

"Are you alright?" asked Tooth in concern. "It looked like you were having a bad dream."

"I wish it had been a dream," said Ivy as she changed back into her human form.

"What do you mean?" questioned Tooth.

"Tooth…something bad is going to happen to Bunny's Easter eggs if they go through the tunnels," warned Ivy as she looked at the Queen Fairy with a seriousness etched upon her face. "Pitch is stationing Nightmares inside the tunnels of the Warren to smash up the eggs that will enter them."

Tooth gasped when she heard what Ivy had just said: "Oh no".

Ivy quickly stood up from the ground and looked down at Tooth with an urgent look upon her face.

"We have to tell Bunny and North about this, now!" exclaimed Ivy before she took off running.

Tooth and Fayette flew after Ivy in hot pursuit. Tooth flew beside Ivy, while Fayette landed on the teen's left shoulder and held on tight to the folds of Ivy's tunic. As Ivy was running an important question quickly formed within her head as she turned to look at Tooth.

"Tooth, I have an important question to ask you," said Ivy as she continued to run to where North and Bunny were with the eggs.

"What is it?" asked Tooth curiously.

"With the baby teeth canisters, do they have some kind of mechanism that goes off when people are desperately trying to remember something from their past?" questioned Ivy.

"Yes," replied Tooth with a confused look upon her face. "When the owner of the baby teeth is trying to remember something important to them, they'll hear a voice they would have known a long time ago calling out to them, why?"

"Well…it's about Jack," started Ivy. "I think he and Baby Tooth might be-"

Ivy's explanation was cut short when she suddenly sensed something was off within the Warren. Ivy ran faster as she headed towards where she sensed the danger, while leaving Tooth behind in the dust, and what she saw made her stop in her tracks. The sight that met Ivy's eyes was a herd of Nightmares stamping their hooves down on the little eggs as the sand creatures smashed them into tiny bits. Ivy began to feel an over whelming rage course through her body as she witnessed the innocent eggs being destroyed in front of her. Then, with a burst of speed, Ivy ran towards one of Nightmares before launching herself into the air as her human nails changed into sharp claws.

"Leave them alone you monster!" yelled Ivy as she slashed her right hand down on the Nightmare.

The Nightmare whinnied in pain as it disintegrated under Ivy's attack. The eggs that hadn't been destroyed by the Nightmare jumped up and down excitedly when they saw Ivy.

"No time for thanking me little guys," said Ivy as she looked down at the little Easter eggs. "You all have to hide, now! I'll take care of these monsters!"

The little eggs quickly did as they were told as they ran off to find a safe place to hide. Ivy quickly got back to fighting off the rest of the Nightmares as she slashed through them with her claws, while trying to help as many of the little eggs escape from them as she possible could.

Ivy was so focused on attacking the Nightmares in front of her that she didn't see a Nightmare charging up behind her, but luckily it didn't get a chance to attack Ivy for it was quickly destroyed by a boomerang which had come flying out of nowhere. Ivy quickly turned around after destroying a Nightmare to see Bunny and North running up to her with Bunny catching his boomerang along the way. Tooth was also with the two male Guardians as she flew beside North. Fayette hovered off from Ivy's shoulder as she flew over to her mother's side.

"Ivy!" called North as he, Tooth and Bunny came to a stop in front of the young teen, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but how it the world did these Nightmares get into the Warren?" questioned Ivy.

"That was my fault, Sheila," replied Bunny miserably. "I just opened the tunnels for the googies when those Nightmares suddenly jumped out from the shadows."

Bunny quickly saw a Nightmare coming towards him, Ivy, Tooth and North and threw one of his boomerangs at it.

"This is not good," said Ivy before she lashed out at another Nightmare that tried to attack her. "Pitch knew from the start what we were up to and had sent his Nightmares to destroy the Easter eggs."

"I'm guessing that it was another one of those dream visions of yours kiddo," stated Bunny before he caught his boomerang.

"Yeah," replied Ivy, "But that's not all!"

"What do you mean by that?" questioned North before he slashed one of his swords down on a Nightmare that came too close to him.

"It's Jack!" exclaimed Ivy as she dodged a Nightmare's attack before destroying it with her sharp claws. "I had a vision about him!"

Bunny grunted as he kicked out with his right foot to knock a Nightmare away from him, while Tooth flew at another Nightmare that snuck up behind him.

"What has that show pony gotten himself into now?" as he gave Ivy a quick glance before continuing to fight off the Nightmares.

"I think he might be in-" started Ivy, but she was quickly cut off when a Nightmare suddenly appeared in front of her and kicked her in the chest with its hind legs.

Ivy found herself flying ten feet away from Bunny, Tooth and North before colliding into a stone wall and fell to the ground with a hard thud.

"Ivy!" shouted Bunny as he tried to run towards the young teen, but was quickly blocked off by the Nightmares that surrounded him, Tooth and North.

As the three Guardians fought off the Nightmares that were attacking them, Fayette separate from her mother as the little fairy flew over to where Ivy was when she had witnessed what had happened to the teen. Fayette made sure that the Nightmares didn't notice her as she flew in and out of them as fast as her wings could carry her. Ivy let out a groan as she slowly lifted herself up from the ground, while shaking her head to clear it.

"Ugh…that pony sure has a powerful kick," muttered Ivy as she gently rubbed the front of the chest.

Fayette appeared in front of Ivy and began to chirp in a frantic voice as she asked Ivy, in her own language, if she was alright. Ivy looked at Fayette with a smile of reassurances, even though it was a slightly grimace.

"I'm okay, Fayette," said Ivy.

Fayette let out another chirp before a little squeak was heard near Ivy's right hand. Ivy quickly turned her head downwards and she saw a group of little eggs standing before her, with Sophie's egg standing among them.

"What are you guys doing out here?!" exclaimed Ivy in a panicked voice, "you need to hide or-".

Ivy's sentence was cut off by Fayette crying out in fear. Ivy quickly looked up from the group of little Easter eggs to see a Nightmare rearing up in front of her as it prepared to stomp its hooves down on the group of eggs. Ivy's eyes widened for a second before she quickly shot forward.

"No!" yelled Ivy as she used her body to protect the eggs from the Nightmare.

Just as the Nightmare brought its front hooves down to slam onto Ivy's back, the medallion around Ivy's neck suddenly started to glow in a bright blue light. The light from the medallion began to engulf Ivy, Fayette, who had hid in the teen's long hair, and the little eggs that Ivy was covering with her body. The Nightmare let out a scream of pain as it disintegrated from the touch of the light that shone around Ivy's body. The light from the medallion began to intensify as it engulfed the entire Warren within its brilliance as the herd of Nightmares screeched and howled in pain. The three Guardians were forced to cover their eyes from the intense light, while the Nightmares disintegrated under the intense light that filled the Warren.

After what seemed like hours, when it had only been a couple of minutes, the light began to fade and that was when the three Guardians opened their eyes. They stared in shock as they saw that all of the Nightmares that had entered the Warren were gone, but Bunny's home was in a bad state with many of the shattered eggshells of Easter eggs that laid scattered all over the grounds of the Warren. Many flowers had been trampled. Broken branches hung limp from their respective trees, while some of the branches that had broken off lay on the ground in clumps. A handful of Bunny's egg golems were standing with a few scratches on their stone bodies. Bunny stared in horror at his home for a moment before he quickly looked over to where Ivy had been, but saw no sign of her, Fayette or the little eggs that had gathered around Ivy to see if she was alright. Fear slowly began to grip at Bunny's his heart.

"No" whispered Bunny.

Tooth and North also noticed that Ivy was gone as well. Tooth began to panic as she began to fly around the Warren, while shouting out Ivy and Fayette's names. Bunny clenched his paws/hands tightly around his boomerangs as sorrow and anger started to flow through his body. Sorrow, because he failed in protecting Ivy and anger for what Pitch had done to his home. Bunny was quickly brought out of his sorrow by North, who gently placed his large hand on Bunny's right shoulder. Tooth and flown back to the two male Guardians with a look of sorrow upon her face.

"Bunny…we have to check the rest of the tunnels to make sure that there are still some eggs left to give to children," spoke North gently.

Bunny could only nod his head as he placed his boomerangs back into his holster before taking off down the tunnels with North and Tooth following after him. But even as they journeyed through the tunnels, Bunny still felt the pain of Ivy's disappearance and it reminded him of how Kiba disappeared. Even if Bunny had only known Ivy for a short time, he felt as if he had known the young girl his whole life. A small stray tear slid down the right side of his face as it left a wet mark on his furry cheek.

' _Ivy…I'm sorry. I wasn't able to protect you like I promised I would,_ ' thought Bunny sadly to himself as he and his three companions disappeared deep into the tunnel in hopes of finding any surviving Easter eggs.

Unknown Location: Alaska

Ivy let out a groan as she began to awaken from her unconsciousness and the first thing that she became aware of was that she was lying on something cold and wet. Ivy's eyes slowly opened and for a moment her vision was blurry, but it soon cleared after a moment and what she saw made her bolt up in shock and confusion. Ivy saw that she was in a snow covered forest with multiple tree branches that were all covered in icicles hanging high above her head.

"Where…am I?" voiced Ivy with a frown as she looked around. "How exactly did I get here? The last thing I remember was fighting a bunch of Nightmares in Bunny's home before I was kicked in the chest by one of them. Then, Fayette and the little Easter eggs…"

Ivy quickly stopped her rambling when she remember her little fairy friend and the Easter eggs that she had tried to protect from a Nightmare that was about to stomp on them. Ivy then remembered the light that came from the medallion that Bunny had given to her before the Nightmares invaded the Warren. The medallion must have somehow transported her, Fayette and the little eggs somewhere when it had sensed that Ivy had been in danger. Ivy was about to stand up to start looking for Fayette and the little eggs when she heard a chirp and a squeak right beside her. Ivy looked down to see several small lumps in the snow before she gently brushed the white power away from the little lumps to reveal Fayette and the Easter eggs.

Ivy let out a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, I was afraid that something might have happened to you guys."

Fayette gave Ivy a smile before she let out a little sneeze and began to shiver in the snow. Ivy saw this and became worried for her little fairy friend and the Easter eggs. If they stayed out in the cold for too long then they'll all freeze to death.

"I've got to get you all out of this weather and into some shelter so you won't catch your death of cold," voiced Ivy before she changed into her wolf form and lay down on the ground. "You can all ride on me for the time being. Hopefully my fur will keep you all warm."

Fayette was the first one to fly up to Ivy's head to take her usual perch there, but the Easter eggs had a little trouble in trying to climb up on Ivy's back, because they had no hands to grip onto the wolf-girl's fur. Ivy frowned as she watched the little eggs trying their hardest to climb.

"This isn't going to work," muttered Ivy before she went into thought. "There's got to be something that I can do to carry you guys around so you won't fall and hurt yourselves."

While Ivy was thinking, the little eggs all huddled closer to the wolf-girl's furry side as they tried to keep themselves warm from the bitter cold wind. Ivy looked down at the little eggs in sadness before moving her tail around and covered them with it. Ivy smiled softly as she felt the Easter eggs squirm a little as they got comfortable in Ivy's warm fur before the young she-wolf heard a familiar caw above her head. Ivy turned her head up towards where she heard the caw and saw the raven perched on the highest branch of a tall western hemlock tree.

Ivy stared up at the Raven in shocked surprise, while Fayette stared up at the bird in fear. Fayette had, had a bad experience with a raven a few years ago. She had been flying over Canada with a child's tooth that she had collected on her night run, when she was attacked by a raven that had been looking for a midnight snack and it thought that Fayette would be an easy meal. Fayette had to fly into a dark forest as the raven chased her before she hid herself in a small knot hole of a large oak tree that she could fit herself in. Fayette could only huddle herself into a ball as the raven clawed and pecked at the hole as it tried to get at her. The Mini Fairy thought it was all over her, but she was quickly saved by a mysterious fog/mist that came out of nowhere.

Fayette didn't see what actually happened, but she did hear the raven screech in fear when a loud growl suddenly echoed throughout the whole forest. The next thing Fayette knew, the raven had quickly flown away, while the mist/fog disappeared within the deepest parts of the forest and was never seen again. It took about a week for Fayette to be coaxed out onto the field again by her mother and sisters. Fayette sat completely still on Ivy's head as her little hands tightly gripped the fur of the young wolf's head. Ivy stared up at the raven for a long minute before she frowned suspiciously at it.

"What are you doing here?" voiced Ivy.

The raven cawed before it flew off from the branch that it had stood on and landed on another branch of a smaller tree. Ivy stared at the raven for a second before she noticed something behind the bird and saw a cave that was big enough to fit her while she was in her wolf form or a small child. Ivy blinked in surprise before looking at the raven again. Ivy and the raven stared at each other for a moment before Ivy nodded her head in thanks and the raven croaked back in response. Ivy turned her head to look down at her side as she lifted her tail to see the little Easter eggs jump with a start when they felt the cold wind blowing around them again.

"Sorry to bring you back into the cold little guys," said Ivy with an apologetic smile. "But there's a cave a few feet in front of us that we can take shelter in for a while until we can figure out a way to get back to the Warren."

The little Easter eggs began to dance happily around in the snow when they heard that Ivy had found shelter. Ivy smile at the little eggs for a moment before she turned her head to look at the raven again, only to see that it was gone.

' _Must have flown away,_ ' thought Ivy before she stood up and began to make her way towards the cave.

As she walked, Ivy dragged her front paws through the snow as she made small trenches for the little Easter eggs to make it easier for them to follow her to the cave. It took a few minutes for Ivy and little Easter eggs to reach the cave and what Ivy saw inside of the cave made her blink in surprise. Inside the cave was a large thick bed of moss that covered almost the entire floor of the cave. The moss was a rich green color and when Ivy placed her left front paw on the moss, she felt it sink down where she could barely feel the stone ground beneath it.

"This should be a good place to rest for a while," said Ivy as she walked onto the thick moss bed with the little Easter eggs following after her.

Ivy soon plopped down onto the large moss bed before laying her head down upon her front paws. The little Easter eggs cuddled up to Ivy's furry side again and soon lay still as they relished in the warmth of her fur. Fayette joined the little eggs in sleeping against Ivy's warm fur as well. The little fairy let out a contented sigh as she snuggled against the soft fur of her friend. Ivy smiled down at the little fairy and Easter eggs before closing her eyes as she let sleep over take her.

To be continued


	9. Child lost in the snow

Believing is always worth seeing

I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters, only the characters that I created within this story.

Chapter 9: Child lost in the snow

Ivy didn't know how long she had slept, but when she woke up Ivy began to hear a quiet whimper of someone crying outside the cave that she, Fayette and the little Easter eggs were temporarily staying in. Ivy raised her head up from her front paws as she looked towards the cave entrance in confusion before she became curious. Ivy slowly stood up on the bed of moss before she began to walk towards the cave entrance. Fayette, who had been sleeping peacefully against Ivy's side, let out a small squeak of surprise when she and the Easter eggs fell down onto the soft surface of the moss bed. Fayette sat up and chirped at Ivy, while giving out a small yawn in the process. Ivy stopped in her tracks to look back at Fayette and the Easter eggs as the mini fairy stared at her with a questioning look upon her face. Ivy gave Fayette a reassuring smile before she spoke.

"I just heard something outside the cave just now," explained Ivy in a soft voice. "I'm going outside to see what it is. I want you to look after the Easter eggs for a moment, I won't be gone long."

Fayette gave Ivy a firm salute before Ivy turned her head forward again and walked out of the cave. Ivy stepped out onto the snow covered ground and began to look around at the trees that stood before her. At first, Ivy didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but her ears quickly picked up on where the sound was coming from. Ivy turned her head towards a large rock that stood three feet away from her and the cave. Ivy trotted over to the rock before slowing her steps as she peaked around it to see what was behind it, and what she saw made her heart break in two. Sitting on the ground, with his back against the rock, was a little six year old boy.

The boy had short golden brown hair and his skin was a light tan color. He was wearing a red winter jacket, a black snowcap, blue snow pants and black snow boots. On the boy's hands were thick black snow mittens that would protect them from the cold wind. The boy had his legs pulled up to his chest as he buried his face in his knees. Ivy sadly stared at the boy as the child sobbed and would once in a while whimper for him mom or dad. Ivy soon made her presence known when she accidently stepped on a dry stick that was hidden beneath the snow. The boy quickly lifted his head and turned his chocolate brown eyes on Ivy.

When the boy saw Ivy in her wolf form he became scared and tried to crawl away from her. Ivy saw this and sat down on the snow covered ground as she tried to make herself look none threatening towards the boy. Ivy then spoke in a gentle voice that made the boy look at her in surprise.

"It's alright," said Ivy softly, "you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you."

The boy slowly stood up and cautiously held his hand out towards Ivy. Ivy sat very still as she patiently let the boy come to her. The boy hesitatingly petted Ivy on the head for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and began to cry into the fur of her neck. Ivy gently rubbed the side of her head against the boy's cheek, while she spook in a soothing voice.

"Shh…it's okay," whispered Ivy as she comforted the little boy that clung to her.

It took a while for the boy to calm down before Ivy led him to the cave where he would be safe from the cold. After settling in, Ivy introduced herself and Fayette to the boy as the Easter eggs gathered around the child in curiosity. The boy then introduced himself as Tommy when he got comfortable around Ivy and realized that she wasn't going to hurt him. Ivy watched as Tommy played with Fayette and the Easter eggs for a bit before the boy turned his attention back on her.

"Do Fayette and all these eggs belong to you?" asked Tommy curiously.

"No," answered Ivy with a chuckle. "Fayette belongs to the Tooth Fairy and all these Easter eggs belong to the Easter Bunny."

"You know the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny!" exclaimed Tommy as he stared at Ivy in shocked surprise.

"Sure do," replied Ivy with a nod of her head, "I also know Santa Claus and the Sandman."

"Really!?" shouted Tommy excitedly. "They're all real?!"

"Yep," answered Ivy again, "why wouldn't they be?"

Tommy's smile slowly disappeared from his face as it was replaced with a sad frown.

"Because…my older brother always keeps telling me that they don't exist," muttered Tommy in a small voice.

Ivy let out a huff of annoyance at the thought of Tommy's older brother telling him to stop believing the Guardians at such a young age.

"Well you brother doesn't control your life Tommy," said Ivy firmly to the little boy in front of her. "Besides, he just wants to annoy you."

"But…he told me that I'm too old to believe in childhood fantasies anymore," argued Tommy half-heartedly.

Ivy gave Tommy a gentle smile as she shook her head in disagreement to what he had just told her what his brother said about him being too old.

"No, Tommy, you're not," said Ivy. "You're still a young pup who is just learning about this world, and besides a kid like you shouldn't think about adults stuff just yet."

"Really?" asked Tommy in a small voice.

"Trust me, if you grow up too fast then you'll wind up missing out on all the fun stuff."

"What kind of fun stuff?"

"Well, let's see…you'll miss out in having snowball fights with your friends, and playing in the snow when Jack Frost comes around during the winter times."

Tommy gave Ivy a befuddled look when she mentioned Jack's name.

"Who's Jack Frost?" he asked.

"Jack Frost is an immortal winter spirit teenager who is all about snowballs and fun times," explained Ivy with a chuckle. "He likes to pull pranks on people once in a while whenever he gets the chance, but the sad thing is…no child can see him."

"Why can't anyone see him?"

Ivy gave Tommy a sad sigh: "Because nobody believes in him. He's been invisible for three hundred years to mortals who can't see him, and spirits who can see Jack Frost completely ignore or attack him without any reason."

"He must have been really lonely without any friends to help him," voiced Tommy sadly.

Ivy quietly agreed with Tommy, for she knew what it was like to be alone when she didn't have anyone to help her when it came to discovering her ability to see spirits. She soon decided to get to the most important question that was banging inside her head.

"So…Tommy, what are you doing out here on your own?" asked Ivy curiously.

Tommy looked down at his lap in sadness as he twiddled his thumbs around for a moment, but he soon began to answer Ivy's question.

"I was looking for Easter eggs," said Tommy. "My family and I were spending Easter with my grandparents at their cottage. I woke up early before anyone and I went outside the cottage to look for Easter eggs, but I didn't find any near my grandparent's cottage. So I decided to look in the woods to see if I could find any Easter eggs, but I was so focused on looking for the eggs that I completely lost sight of where I was. I started to panic as I tried to find my way, but I just got even more lost."

"And that was when I found you huddled up against that rock outside my cave in the snow," said Ivy as she finished the end of Tommy's story.

Tommy nodded his head as tears started to form in his eyes again. Ivy saw this before she stood up and walked over to Tommy. She sat down beside Tommy and began to nuzzle her head against his right shoulder to comfort him. Tommy then threw his arms around Ivy's neck and began to cry into her fur again. Fayette and the Easter eggs sadly watched as they were helpless on how they should help the boy find his way back home. Ivy continued to comfort Tommy as she nuzzled the side of his cheek with her own.

"It's going to be okay Tommy," whispered Ivy. "I promise that I'll get you back to your family no matter what."

After an hour of crying, Tommy fell asleep from exhaustion as he curled up on the soft bed of moss. Ivy lay right next to Tommy with her left side pressed up against the boy's back as she used her body to shield him from the wind that blew through the entrance of the cave. Fayette and the Easter eggs were all huddled together a few inches away from Tommy's sleeping form. Ivy was still awake as she sadly stared down at Tommy's sleeping form for a moment before turning her head towards the cave entrance. Ivy let out a quiet sigh as her thoughts wandered to Jack and the Guardians.

' _I wish you and the others were here with me, Jack,_ ' thought Ivy. ' _One of you would probably know how I can find the cottage of Tommy's grandparents._ '

Ivy soon decided to get some sleep as she lay her head down on her front paws before closing her eyes. Unknown to Ivy, Tommy's parents, grandparents and older brother had noticed that their little family member was missing and were now looking for him along with a search and rescue team.

Dream scene

 _Ivy slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was in a lush green park with a group of children walking around with disappointed looks upon their faces. Hanging above the children's heads' was a banner that read 'Easter Hunt in England Park' that was attached between two large trees. Ivy, in her human form, watched on in sadness as the kids started to walk away, while speaking sadly to each other._

" _There aren't any eggs."_

" _I give up."_

" _Let's go."_

 _Ivy slowly walked up to a picnic bench where a little girl and boy were hanging about. The boy was looking under a bush, while the girl sat on the table of the bench watching him._

" _I don't understand," spoke the boy in a disappointed voice._

" _Maybe he just hid them really well this year," suggested the girl in a hopeful voice._

' _If only that were true,' thought Ivy sadly._

" _Kids, oi!" a familiar voice shouted with the sound of pounding feet accompanying it._

 _Ivy quickly turned to see Bunny running up to her and the two kids on three legs with his right arm holding a basket filled with Easter eggs. Bunny quickly switched to standing on two legs as he now stood between the two kids._

" _Bunny!" exclaimed Ivy with a relieved smile upon her face, while almost forgetting that Bunny couldn't see or hear her._

" _I've looked everywhere," said the boy as he turned to face the girl. "There's nothing here."_

" _Yes there is, there is!" exclaimed Bunny with a reassuring smile before taking a painted egg out of his basket to show the two children. "I mean, these aren't my best looking googies but they'll do in a pinch."_

 _Ivy hopefully watched as the girl jumped off from the picnic table._

" _I can't believe it," said the girl._

" _I-I know," said Bunny as he turned to look at the girl while laughing nervously._

 _Ivy sadly watched as she sensed the last spark of hope beginning to die out from inside the little girl's soul as it was replaced by sadness and grief._

" _There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny," the girl finished sadly as she and the boy began to walk away._

 _Ivy watched helplessly as Bunny expression chanced to shock, sadness and hurt when he heard what the girl had said._

" _What?" voiced Bunny before he started to desperately call out to the children as he stood in front of a boy that was walking towards him, "No…wrong, it's not true, I'm right in front of ya mate!"_

 _What happened next made Ivy gasped in shock as the boy that Bunny was trying to get attention from suddenly walked right through the Guardian of Hope. Bunny's eyes went wide as a look of pain shone through them, while he was gasping as if he was having trouble breathing. Bunny slowly turned as he watched the kids leave the park with realization coming over his features._

" _They don't see me," spoke Bunny in a hopeless voice. "They don't see me…"_

 _Bunny slowly sank to the ground in defeat as his basket dropped to the grass, while he curled in on himself with the egg he held close to his chest as if to protect it from the world around it. A few tears slid down Ivy's face as she sadly watched Bunny without him realizing that she was standing just a few feet away from him._

" _Bunny…I'm so sorry," voiced Ivy as she watched Tooth, who had been hiding in a few bushes, slowly hover over to Bunny's side._

 _Tooth placed a gentle hand on Bunny's shoulder as she tried to comfort him as best she could. Ivy watched this for a moment before she was jolted out of her sadness when she heard North's voice shouting out Jack's name from behind her._

" _Jack! Where were you?" questioned the Guardian of Wonder._

 _Ivy quickly turned around to see Jack standing a few feet away from her with North leaning against his swords looking tired and worn out. Ivy ran over to the two before coming to stand on Jack's right side._

" _North, what happened?" asked Ivy before she remembered that North couldn't hear her, but the Guardian gave Ivy her answer as he explained what had happened to Jack, and unknowingly to Ivy._

" _The Nightmares…attacked the tunnels," said North in an exhausted voice. "They smashed every egg, crushed every basket._ _ **Nothing**_ _made it to the surface."_

 _Rage began to bubble up within Ivy's body when hearing what had happened to the little Easter eggs, but her rage was quickly forgotten when Tooth suddenly flew up to them._

" _Jack!" shouted Tooth with relief appearing in her voice._

 _Ivy sadly stared at Tooth as she noticed how some of the Queen Fairy's feathers were falling from her body and landing on the ground. Ivy also noticed that Tooth's feathers have lost their luster and beauty._

" _Oh…Tooth," voiced Ivy sadly._

 _Tooth stared at Jack for a moment before looking down when her eyes caught something. Tooth let out a gasp as she looked at Jack in shock and horror._

" _Where did you get that?" asked Tooth._

 _Ivy frowned at Tooth in confusion for a second before noticing Jack moving his right arm as he lifted up his hand and what Ivy saw made her eyes go wide in disbelief. In Jack's hand was a tooth box. On the flat end of the cylinder tooth box was a picture of a boy that looked exactly like Jack, but instead of having white hair and blue eyes the boy in the picture had brown hair and brown eyes. Ivy's jaw dropped open as she stared at the tooth box for a moment before looking up at Jack's face in shock. When Ivy saw the dazed look on Jack's face she stared at the winter spirit in confusion._

' _What's up with him?' thought Ivy._

 _Jack stared at the tooth box in his hand for a moment before he turned his attention back on Tooth again._

" _I was…it-it's-" stammered Jack as he tried to explain his absence to the Guardians but Tooth interrupted him._

" _Where's Baby Tooth?" asked Tooth as she franticly looked around for her missing mini fairy._

 _Jack seemed to be trying to come up with an answer, but he was too slow as Tooth quickly jumped to a wrong conclusion._

" _Oh, Jack…what have you done?" voiced Tooth with a look of disappointment on her face._

" _That is why you weren't here?" stepped in North as hurt and betrayal appeared on his features. "You were with_ _ **Pitch**_ _?!"_

 _Jack had shoved the tooth box into his hoodie's front pocket before he started trying to defend or explain himself._

" _No, no listen!" exclaimed Jack as his shoulders sagged a little. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean for this to happen."_

' _What does he mean by that?' thought Ivy with a frown._

" _He has to go," spoke Bunny as he walked up to the group._

 _Ivy and Jack turned around to see Bunny standing before them with his fists clenched at his sides. Ivy could sense a growing anger building up inside of Bunny as the older Guardian glared at Jack. Ivy felt her stomach clench in fear as she stared up at Bunny in worry. Jack stared at Bunny in shock and disbelief._

" _What?" voiced Jack._

" _We should NEVER have trusted you!" shouted Bunny as he raised his right fist up as if to hit Jack._

" _Bunny, no!" yelled Ivy as she quickly stood in front of Bunny as she tried to block him from hitting Jack, once again forgetting that no one could see or hear her. "Please, don't let your anger get the best of you and let you make the biggest mistake that you'll wind up regretting for the rest of your life!"_

 _Jack quickly jumped back as he stared at Bunny with fear in his eyes, while Bunny stopped in his tracks as he glared at Jack for a moment before his features changed to sadness. Bunny lowered his fist as his shoulders slumped in defeat before he began to speak to the winter spirit._

" _Easter is…new beginnings, new life," explained Bunny in a broken voice. "Easter is about 'Hope' and now it's gone, along with Ivy."_

 _Jack stared at Bunny in horror: "What?"_

 _Bunny only glanced at Jack in disappointment before he turned and began to walk away. Jack quickly turned to look at North and Tooth._

" _What happened to Ivy?" asked Jack in a worried voice._

 _North let out a sigh before he answered Jack's question._

" _The Nightmares somehow got into the Warren and started attacking us. During the attack, Ivy was trying to protect a group of eggs from a Nightmare that was going to smash them. But before the Nightmare could hurt Ivy a strange light suddenly came out of nowhere and engulfed Ivy, along with the little eggs that she was protecting. I think Fayette had been with Ivy at the time and must have disappeared with her as well. The light had destroyed the Nightmares, while we were blinded by it. For a time we couldn't see anything, but when the light had faded and we were able to see again…Ivy was gone, along with Fayette and a few of the Easter eggs that she was protecting. It's as if she disappeared off the face of the earth…just like comrade Kiba."_

 _Ivy, who was sadly watching Bunny, heard what North had said and she quickly turned to face the Guardian of Wonder before she once again started to speak in a despite voice in hopes that Jack or the three Guardians could hear her._

" _No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth!" exclaimed Ivy. "I'm just somewhere that you haven't looked yet!"_

 _But Ivy should have known that none of them would hear her. After hearing that Ivy was gone, Jack felt a sense of loss within his heart. Jack may not have known Ivy for very long, but despite him teasing her, Jack had cared about Ivy as if she was his little sister. As North and Tooth turned away from Jack, the winter spirit reached into the pocket of his hood and pulled out the little Russian doll that North had given him. Jack sadly looked at the doll in his hand for a moment before he tossed it to the ground. Ivy watched helplessly as Jack ran a couple of feet away from North and Tooth before he flew off on the wind that carried him far away to who knows where. Ivy sadly sighed as she turned her gaze towards Tooth, and North to look at them with disappointment before looking to where Bunny was sitting on the ground. He was sitting on the ground curled up into a ball once again near the banner. Ivy made her way over to Bunny as she came to stand near the left side of the Guardian of Hope before she crouched down beside him. Ivy noticed a few tears running down his face as they left behind wet markings in his fur. Ivy bit the bottom of her lip before she started to talk, while knowing that Bunny wasn't going to hear her._

" _Bunny…I'm sorry I disappeared on you when you guys needed me the most," said Ivy in a sad voice. "But I just wanted to let you know that the Easter eggs, Fayette and I are okay. I don't know where we are right now, but I can't come back to you and the others just yet. I need to help a lost boy find his way back home to his family. He still believes in you guys and I'm going to make sure that he keeps on believing in you._

" _I also wanted to let you know that I'm not giving up, no matter how bleak our chances of winning against the shadow creep are. Jack may have messed up on this, but it wasn't his fault, it was Pitch's fault. He lured Jack to his lair so that he could distract Jack long enough for his Nightmares to attack the Easter eggs and your home._

" _Bunny…you're the Guardian of Hope and that center is one of the strongest emotions in the world. I've given up the hope of ever finding a family that would want me, but you've given me back a new hope that…maybe I could have friends that would accept me for who I am and what I am. I may not know where I came from or who my parents were, but what I do know is that there might be a slight chance that we can turn this battle around in our favor. I only wish that you and the others can see me right now."_

 _Silence came over Ivy for a moment as she continued to look at Bunny in sadness when she suddenly heard a voice calling out Tommy's name. Ivy reached out with her left hand and gently placed it on Bunny's shoulder, just barely touching it._

" _I have to go now Bunny," spoke Ivy with a sad smile, "but I promise that I'll meet up with you guys as soon as I can. You just have to believe in me."_

 _After saying those words, Ivy drew her hand back and stood up as she got ready to wake up. As Ivy's world started to turn black, she didn't notice Bunny reaching his left hand up to his right shoulder with a look of surprise on his face before a hopeful smile replaced it. Nor did she hear him whisper her name as she faded back to consciousness._

 _Real world_

Ivy let out a groan as she slowly started to wake up before she heard multiple adult voices calling out Tommy's name. Ivy quickly lifted her head up as she turned her attention towards the cave's entrance. Ivy cast a glance down at Tommy for a moment before she slowly stood up and began to make her way outside when she heard a quiet chirp. Ivy stopped in her tracks as she turned her head to see Fayette sitting beside Tommy's head as the mini fairy looked at Ivy curiously. Ivy gave Fayette a smile before she spoke in a quiet voice so that she wouldn't wake Tommy up.

"I'll be back in a few minutes Fayette," said Ivy gently. "So until I get back, I want you to stay here with Tommy and make sure that nothing bad happens to him. I won't be gone long, alright?"

Fayette let out a chirp as she gave Ivy a firm salute to show that she understood. Ivy nodded her head at Fayette before she turned towards the entrance again and walked out of the cave. Once she was outside, Ivy broke into a run as she headed to where the voices were coming from. Back in the cave, Fayette had sat herself closer to Tommy's head as she watched him along with the Easter eggs that had just woken up before Ivy had left the cave. Tommy slept peacefully in the presence of Fayette and the Easter eggs, unaware that a dark shadow was lurking within the back of the cave.

Scene change: Forest

Ivy ran through the forest at breakneck speed as she headed to where the voiced were shouting out Tommy's name. Ivy started slowing down when she neared the location. Ivy stopped near the edge of the tree line before staring out at a small clearing as she saw a group of adult humans walking along the forest path.

' _Well…I found the people who are looking for Tommy,_ ' thought Ivy as she sat down to think. ' _Now, how do I get them to follow me? If I go out there to meet them in my wolf form I might scare them off, but if I show up in my human form then there's going to be questions._ '

This was a difficult decision for Ivy to choose from, but after a moment of contemplating Ivy finally made her decision.

' _I'll just have to chance it in my wolf form,_ ' thought Ivy before she stepped out into clearing to face the humans.

Back at the cave

Fayette and the Easter eggs sat close to Tommy as they watched over the young boy, while they waited for Ivy to return. Fayette gently patted Tommy's forehead with her left hand for a moment before stiffening when she and the Easter eggs sensed something behind them. The cold realization that they weren't alone in the cave sent a shiver down the mini fairy's spine. Fayette and the Easter eggs quickly turned around to look at the back of the cave and what they saw made them all freeze in fear as they all stared into the predatory eyes…of a Nightmare. The Nightmare that Fayette and the Easter eggs were seeing wasn't the usual Nightmares that they had seen in the Warren. Instead of the Nightmare being in the shape of a horse, it was in the shape of a wolf. The wolf Nightmare let out a dark snarl as it glared at Fayette, the little Easter eggs and the boy as it inched closer to them with its eyes set on its target…Tommy.

Fayette quickly got over her fear when she saw that Tommy was in danger. The mini fairy attempted to jump up from the ground and fly around the Nightmare to distract it, but she suddenly found herself unable to lift herself off the moss bed. Fayette attempted to try again, but it was the same result. Horror came over Fayette's features when she realized that she couldn't fly anymore. Fayette and the Easter eggs watched helplessly as the black sand wolf crept closer towards Tommy, but before it could get any closer to touch the boy a deep growl resounded from the cave entrance. The Nightmare quickly lifted its head to where the growl came from before a silver streak appeared from out of nowhere and slashed right through the wolf Nightmare. The Nightmare let out a howl of pain as it disintegrated into the shadows of the cave. The whole cave was quiet as Fayette and the Easter eggs stared in astonishment as the silver blur that had attacked the Nightmare turned towards them to reveal itself the mini fairy and Easter eggs.

Standing in the cave was a wolf with silver white fur that glinted in the light, which flowed into the cave. The wolf's eyes were a grey blue with a few flecks of gold dotted around the edges of its pupils. The wolf's stomach had white fur that traveled half way up the wolf's chest while the white fur also traveled down underneath its stomach and the underside of its tail.

Fayette stared at the wolf in wide eyed wonderment before shrinking down in the moss bed when the wolf began to walk towards them. The wolf walked around Fayette, the Easter eggs and Tommy's sleeping form before stopping to stand behind Tommy's back. The wolf soon lay down on the moss bead, while pressing its side up against the boy's back. Tommy unconsciously shifted in his sleep as he pressed himself closer to the wolf for warmth before settling back down. Fayette stared up at the wolf in befuddlement before stiffening when the wolf turned its grey blue eyes on her. The wolf stared at Fayette with its piercing eyes that seemed to look straight into the mini fairy's soul before it lowered its head and gently nuzzled Fayette with the side of its muzzle. Fayette soon began to relax when she realized that the wolf wasn't going to hurt her. The mini fairy and Easter eggs soon walked over to Tommy and cuddled close to the boy and wolf to keep themselves warm, while the wolf watched over them as they slept.

Back in the forest

In the forest, a search party made up of men and women, who were friends of Tommy's grandparents or were rescue professionals, were wandering around on a worn down trail. Leading the search party was Tommy's father, a thirty year old man with short black hair, light tan skin and brown eyes. He had a strong and a well-built figure, which showed that he was athletic. He was wearing a dark brown winter coat over a dark blue sweater, black pants and brown winter boots. Around his neck was a leather brown string with a sliver wolf pendant hanging from it. His name is Richard Clark, a man who works with the search and rescue team.

Richard glanced over his shoulder to see his wife and older son who had come with him to find Tommy. They were walking a few steps behind him.

Tommy's mother was twenty nine years old with long light golden brown hair that grew down to her shoulders and light blue eyes. Her skin was a lighter color than her husband's skin tone. She was wearing a red jacket that was zipped up to protect her from the cold, a sweater dress that was hidden underneath the winter coat, black leggings and light brown winter boots. Her name was Amy Clark, a devoted wife and mother to her family.

The last member of Tommy's family was his older brother Justin, who was ten years old. He had the same hair and skin tone of his father, but had the same eye color as his mother. He was wearing a dark blue winter jacket over a long white sleeved shirt, blue jeans and black winter boots.

Justin is a stubborn boy that was trying to act more like an adult and be more like his father. Sometimes that landed him in a conflict with his little brother, Tommy. They would argue about the existence of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman. Whenever Justin says they weren't real, Tommy would break down into tears and cry out that they were real, while adding how mean his brother was before running to their mother for comfort. Justin was sadly looking down at the ground as he walked beside his mother with regret weighing heavily upon his shoulders.

' _I shouldn't have been so mean to him,_ ' thought Justin sadly to himself. ' _If something were to happen to him, I'll never be able to forgive myself._ '

Justin was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when one of the men in the group shouted out a warning to the other search team members. Everyone quickly turned to see what was wrong and saw what had made the man cry out. Walking towards them at a slow pace was a young wolf with intense blue eyes that stared right into their very souls. The people in the group began to panic as one of the men lifted up a gun that he had been carrying with him. He quickly pointed the gun at the wolf and got ready to shoot it, but he was suddenly stopped by Richard, who quickly placed a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Wait a minute," he said before he began to walk towards the wolf.

' _What the heck is dad doing?_ ' thought Justin in fear and confusion.

Richard met the wolf half-way before kneeling down to its height so that he could be eye to eye with young canine. Richard then slowly raised his hand as he held it out towards the wolf and the search party, along with Justin, watched in amazement when the wolf nuzzled its head in the palm of Richard's hand. Justin stared at his father in admiration and wonder as Richard gently petted the wolf.

' _Wow, I didn't know dad could tame animals like that,_ ' thought Justin.

The wolf let Richard pet it for a second before it gently grabbed the sleeve of Richard's jacket and began to tug on it.

"What is it girl?" asked Richard with a frown.

The wolf let out a soft growl as it, now known as a she, let go of the sleeve of Richard's jacket before turning and trotting as few steps towards where she had come from before stopping. She looked back at Richard with an expectant look upon her face. Richard stood up before he walked towards the wolf and stopped a few feet away from her. The wolf trotted a few feet towards the forest again before stopping to look back at Richard once more. Richard quickly realized what the wolf wanted him to do before taking off into a run with the young wolf running ahead of him as she led him into the forest.

"Dad!" shouted Justin as he and the search party members quickly followed after Richard.

Ivy's point of view

As she ran through the forest, Ivy would stop occasionally and look back to see if the humans were still following her before taking off again. Ivy made sure to slow her speed once in a while so that the people she was leading wouldn't lose sight of her. Ivy would sometimes hear the people yelling out the name of the man that was following her to turn back, but he didn't seem to listen to them as he kept on following her through the forest.

' _I have to admit, this guy is very determined,_ ' thought Ivy with a smile.

Ivy soon saw the cave that she had left Tommy, Fayette and the Easter eggs in. Ivy stopped at the entrance of the cave before turning to look at the man that had been following her and gave a sharp bark at him. The man, Richard if Ivy remembered correctly, stopped in his tracks and stared at Ivy in confusion before he and Ivy heard a yawn come from the cave. Richard stared at the cave entrance for a tense moment before a large smile appeared on his face as Tommy crawled out from the cave. The boy was rubbing his right eye sleepily before he noticed the man in front of him. An excited smile appeared on Tommy's face as he stood up and ran towards the adult who was kneeling to the boy's height, and had his arms held wide open.

"Dad!" shouted Tommy as he threw his arms around Richard's neck.

"Tommy!" exclaimed Richard as he held his son tightly in his arms.

The search party members soon caught up with Tommy's father as Tommy's mother and brother gathered around Richard with tears of joy appearing in their eyes. Ivy watched as she sat at the entrance of the cave with a soft smile on her muzzle. Richard gave his wife their younger son before he walked over to Ivy and knelt down to pet her.

"Thank you…for saving after my son," said Richard with a grateful smile on his face.

Ivy wagged her tail happily before Richard stood up and walked back to his family. The search party and Tommy's family began to walk away, with Amy carrying her younger son in her arms. Tommy looked over his mother's shoulder and waved goodbye to Ivy, who nodded her head back at him. Tommy settled back in his mother's arms and sighed sadly at the thought of saying goodbye to Ivy. He then noticed a lump in his left jacket pocket before he dug his hand into. What the boy pulled out from his pocket were four colorful Easter eggs that had been in the cave with him, but had now lost their legs. A large smile appeared on Tommy's face as he held the four eggs gently against his chest. Justin noticed the Easter eggs his little brother was holding and became curious.

"Where did you get those little eggs Tommy?" asked Justin.

Tommy looked down at his older brother as he answered his brother's question with a wink and a smiled.

"Sorry bro, it's a secret," said Tommy.

Justin frowned in confusion as he continued to look at his little brother as Tommy continued to hold the Easter eggs in his hands.

Back with Ivy

Ivy watched as Tommy, his family and the search party travel back to the path that they had been walking on before she had found them. Ivy let out a sigh of relief before hearing the familiar chirp of her fairy friend, who was still in the cave along with the few Easter eggs that hadn't gone with Tommy. Ivy stood up from the ground and walked into the cave before seeing Fayette sitting on the moss bed with the Easter eggs encircling her. That was when Ivy noticed that something was wrong when she saw the sad look upon Fayette's face as the mini fairy looked up at her.

"Fayette, what's wrong?" asked Ivy in concern.

Fayette answered Ivy's question by flapping her wings and trying to lift up from the ground, but Fayette only got a few inches into the air before falling back down onto the moss bed again. Realization quickly came over Ivy's features when she understood what was wrong.

"Oh-no," voiced Ivy in fear, "this is so not good. The Guardians are losing their strength more and more with the children losing their belief in them. And since you and your sisters are connected to your mother, you've lost your ability to fly."

Fayette nodded her head sadly along with the Easter eggs. Ivy let out a frustrating sigh before she collected her thoughts together and started to think for a moment. That was when she came up with an idea.

"Okay, first off I need to get you little eggs back to the Warren," said Ivy in a firm voice. "After that, I need to find Jack and the Guardians, than I need to help them get believers again. I just hope I can help them before it's too late." Ivy then realized something very important and let out a groan. "But how am I supposed to get you all back to the Warren? I don't even know where any of the tunnels are."

The Easter eggs and Fayette began to squeak and chirp in excitement as Fayette pointed at the medallion hanging around Ivy's neck.

"The medallion?" asked Ivy as she looked down at the medallion that Bunny had given her. "Are you telling me that my medallion might be able to help us?"

Fayette and the Easter eggs nodded their heads 'yes' to Ivy's question. Ivy looked confused for a moment before the memory of what happened back in the Warren popped up in her head. Ivy remembered that she had tried to protect Fayette and the Easter eggs from a Nightmare that was going to crush them. When that had happened, a bright light came bursting out from the medallion just before the Nightmare's front hooves almost slammed down on Ivy's back. Ivy took on a thoughtful look before looking down at Fayette and the Easter eggs again with a smirk appearing on her face.

"Well…it's worth a shot," said Ivy in a positive voice as the Easter eggs and Fayette hopped or bounced in front of her in excitement. "Alright everyone, gather around me as close as you possibly can."

The Easter eggs did what Ivy told them as they gathered around the young wolf-girl, who lay down on the moss, as they pressed up against her furry side. Ivy placed her tail around the little Easter eggs before she lowered her head for Fayette to climb up and sit between her wolf ears. Once the Easter eggs and Fayette were settled, Ivy raised her head up again and looked down at the medallion for a second before closing her eyes and began to concentrate.

' _Medallion, please transport the Easter eggs, Fayette and I back to the Warren_ ' whispered Ivy inside her mind.

After a few seconds, the medallion responded to Ivy's thoughts as it started to glow in the very same light as it surrounded Ivy and her little friends again. Then, in a flash of blinding light, Ivy, the Easter eggs and Fayette were gone.

To be continued


End file.
